U.S. Execution Hits Roadblock as Judge Says Can’t Revise Order

A Maryland federal judge said he can’t direct an upcoming execution to be carried out in the government’s Indiana death chamber, adding a new hurdle to the Trump administration’s plans to execute three inmates before Inauguration Day.

In the Dec. 29 ruling, U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte said he lacks authority to revise a final judgment and order against the backdrop of a federal law which requires federal executions to be carried out under the law of the state in which the defendant was sentenced.

Maryland, where a federal jury returned a death sentence against Dustin Higgs in ...