Hi again from Terre Haute, where Dustin Honken is scheduled to die in less than an hour and a half—the third execution this week. Most people seem to think he will be killed on schedule, at 4pm ET.
Again, these are the vans that take witnessing press into the prison for processing. A number of reporters here spent spent all night Wednesday waiting on the execution of Wesley Purkey yesterday—after already staying up all night Monday for the killing of Daniel Lee Tuesday AM.
Vans just left a few minutes ago. It looked like fewer witnesses this time, but would have to check to be sure. I’ve been told that the victims’ families will release a written statement afterward but will not speak directly to the press.
As I’ve said before, there is no media center for non-witnessing press, just this small area in the training center, just north of the prison complex. A different room is set up here for media witnesses.
Along with face masks and hand sanitizer, there are these pamphlets available for BOP employees, instructing them on healthy sleep, managing stress, and PTSD, which feels more than a bit twisted as we await the DOJ’s third execution of the week.
Activists are back at the intersection of Springhill and Route 41, where they have protested all week. It’s very hot and the sun is intense. Some drivers honk and wave in support. Others yell explitives.
Dustin Honken’s daughter was here earlier. She has visited him on death row for years. She plans to light a candle for her father at 4pm, away from here.
Indiana native Bill Pelke is co-founder of Journey of Hope, which is led by murder victims’ families. He traveled from Alaska, as he has many times before, to tell his story. One of the last times I saw him, he spoke alongside former executioner Jerry Givens, who died of Covid.
At 4pm, the scheduled time of execution, Abe Bonowitz of @DeathPenaltyAct tolls this bell, a fixture of his protests at prisons around the country. Others follow.
Activists are now silently awaiting word on the execution. Cars continue to honk. Some rev their engines loudly. One guy just passed and made an obscene gesture, mockingly saying,”Let murderers roam free, let murderers roam free!”
Many ppl here have protested executions for years, including the last trio of federal executions, starting w/Timothy McVeigh in 2001 & ending w/ Gulf War veteran Louis Jones, on the eve of the Iraq invasion in 2003. Those were much bigger news events than this week’s executions.
https://t.co/7lmS5oVHzO
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