Navajo man dies by lethal injection at U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute
Lezmond Mitchell, convicted in the 2001 murders of a woman and her granddaughter in Arizona, was executed by lethal injection at 6:29 p.m. today at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute.
Mitchell, 38, made no final comment when questioned by a Bureau of Prisons officials about a last statement.
“No, I’m good,” Mitchell said.
A catheter inserted into a vein in his arm delivered a fatal dose of pentobarbital to stop his heart. The execution began at 6:03 p.m. and was concluded at 6:29 p.m.
Inside the execution room with Mitchell were individuals identified as a U.S. Marshal and a senior Bureau of Prisons official.
Witnesses were admitted to designated and separate areas a few minutes prior to the execution. The U.S. Marshal made a final telephone call to check for a last minute stay.
Victim family members have said they would give a statement following the execution.
Another execution is scheduled this week at the federal prison, which houses Death Row and the only federal execution chamber.
Keith DeWayne Nelson, 45, is scheduled for a 4 p.m. execution Friday. Nelson was convicted in the 1999 kidnapping of a 10-year-old girl who was rollerblading in front of her home.
Mitchell's execution was the fourth this summer following a 17-year hiatus on executions.
Daniel Lewis Lee, 47, was executed July 14. Wesley Ira Purkey, 68, died by lethal injection July 15. Dustin Lee Honken, 52, died by lethal injection July 17. The victims of all three men included children.
Mitchell and an accomplice were convicted of killing 9-year-old Tiffany Lee and her granddaughter, 63-year-old Alyce Slim, after Slim offered Mitchell and a teenager a lift in her pickup truck as they hitchhiked on the Navajo Nation in northeastern Arizona in 2001. Slim was stabbed 33 times. The child's throat was cut and her head was bashed with stones. Both bodies were then mutilated.
The Navajo government had asked President Donald Trump to commute Mitchell’s sentence on grounds his execution would violate Navajo culture and sovereignty. Federal courts also declined to halt the execution.
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