U.S. Plans to Execute Inmate Who Murdered Two Youth Ministers

[Eugene]

3. Feds put first Black inmate to death since execution restart

Source: Associated Press

Feds put first Black inmate to death since execution restart

BY MICHAEL TARM
15 minutes ago

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) — A man who killed a religious couple visiting Texas from Iowa was executed Thursday, the first Black inmate put to death as part of the Trump administration’s resumption of federal executions.

Christopher Vialva, 40, was pronounced dead shortly before 7 p.m. EDT after receiving a lethal injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.

In a last statement, Vialva asked God to comfort the families of the couple he had killed, saying, “Father … heal their hearts with grace and love.” His final words were: “I’m ready, Father.”

The execution comes during demonstrations, disappointment, violence and sadness in Louisville, Kentucky, after a grand jury did not charge the officers who shot Breonna Taylor with her death, rather filing lower level felonies for shooting into neighboring homes. Questions about racial bias in the criminal justice system have been front and center since May — following the death of George Floyd after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on the handcuffed Black man’s neck for several minutes.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/race-and-ethnicity-racial-injustice-terre-haute-executions-archive-d54440254ddea7685bcab5417612f0de