US Supreme Court clears way for execution of federal prisoners, including Honken

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) — The Trump administration was moving ahead early today with the execution of the first federal prison inmate in 17 years after a divided Supreme Court reversed lower courts and ruled federal executions could proceed. 

Daniel Lewis Lee had been scheduled to receive a lethal dose of the powerful sedative pentobarbital Monday afternoon, but a court order preventing Lee’s execution, issued Monday morning by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, remained in place.

 A federal appeals court in Washington refused the administration’s plea to step in, before the Supreme Court acted by a 5-4 vote. 

Still, Lee’s lawyers said the execution could not go forward after midnight under federal regulations.

North-central Iowa drug kingpin Dustin Honken, who was convicted of killing five people in 1993, is scheduled to be executed on Friday.