Catholic Priest Demands Executions Halt During Pandemic

A second priest for a death row inmate in Indiana may join a lawsuit demanding that the federal government postpone upcoming executions until after the pandemic has been controlled, a federal judge has ruled.

Mark O’Keefe will be permitted to argue alongside Seigen Hartkemeyer that the Justice Department’s and Federal Bureau of Prisons’ decision to schedule executions during a public health crisis was arbitrary and capricious, Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson said Wednesday for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.

Only one other federal prison has executed an inmate since the pandemic began, and the Missouri facility saw ...