![]() ![]() The crimes were carried out in Maryland which has since dropped the death penalty. ![]() Higgs was found guilty in 2000 of multiple federal offenses including first-degree premeditated murder, three counts of first-degree felony murder, and three counts of kidnapping resulting in death. Haynes pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison. Higgs, along with two other men, killed three women in 1996, with one of the men, Willis Haynes, actually pulling the trigger. Justice Sonya Sotomayor called it an "unprecedented rush," saying that "after waiting almost two decades to resume federal executions, the Government should have proceeded with some measure of restraint to ensure it did so lawfully." The Supreme Court declined to stop the execution, although some justices dissented, noting that before the first of the 13, it had been 17 years since a federal execution had been carried out. government has executed Dustin Higgs, the last prisoner executed during the Trump administration, and the 13 th in the space of six months. Biden's campaign has actively spoken out against the death penalty, citing the amount of wrongfully convicted inmates who have been given these sentences.The U.S. Meanwhile, President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to abolish the federal death penalty and to provide incentives to states for stopping death sentences as a part of his criminal justice plan. ![]() The federal government has authorised the executions of 13 federal death row inmates in about six months, CNN reported. In July 2019, then-Attorney General William Barr had resumed federal executions after a 17-year hiatus to "bring justice to victims of the most horrific crimes". Later in 2000, a Maryland jury found Higgs guilty of numerous federal offenses, including three counts of first-degree premeditated murder, three counts of first-degree felony murder, and three counts of kidnapping resulting in death, and unanimously recommended nine death sentences, which the court imposed, the statement said. He ordered the women out of the vehicle, gave a gun to one of the friends, and said, "better make sure they're dead." The other man shot Black and Jackson in the chest and back, and shot Chinn in the back of the head, killing all three women, CNN cited the statement. Higgs offered the women a ride back to DC, but instead drove to a secluded area in the Patuxent National Wildlife Refuge. ![]() In January 1996, Higgs along with two friends drove to Washington DC to pick up Black, Jackson, and Chinn, whom Higgs had invited to his apartment in Laurel, Maryland, according to a Department of Justice statement.Īt the apartment, Jackson rebuffed an advance by Higgs and the women left. Nolan also argued that Higgs was unfairly sentenced, since the actual gunman is serving a life sentence. According to CNN, Higgs' execution went forward despite his attorney, Shawn Nolan's appeal to delay the proceeding because of Higgs' Covid-19 diagnosis. Higgs' victims were Tamika Black, 19 Tanji Jackson, 21 and Mishann Chinn, 23. I did not order the murders," he said while mentioning the three women by name. Until his death, Higgs maintained his innocence, and the tone of his voice was calm but defiant as he said his final words, according to a pool report. Higgs became the 13th and last federal death row inmate to be executed since the US Justice Department restarted federal executions in July 2019, CNN reported. Washington, January 16 (ANI): Outgoing US President Donald Trump's administration carried out its last federal execution when Dustin John Higgs, convicted of kidnapping and murdering three women in 1996, was executed in the early hours of Saturday. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |