So, I’m back in Terre Haute, IN, where the Trump DOJ is preparing to carry out its 6th federal execution since July. These vans were at the FCC Terre Haute Training Center a moment ago, but they just left, carrying media witnesses for the killing of William LeCroy at 6pm. 
It's hard to know what more to say right now. This is my third trip to Terre Haute this year, following a couple of visits in 2019. Some previous coverage here: theintercept.com/2020/08/02/fed… & here
theintercept.com/2020/08/25/lez… & here theintercept.com/2020/09/09/fed…
theintercept.com/2020/08/25/lez… & here theintercept.com/2020/09/09/fed…
When I first visited Terre Haute last year, my first stop was the local library, which has a small archive related to the federal penitentiary. When it opened in 1940, a fawning press described it as “a hospital to cure men of tendencies which make them socially undesirable.”
As I wrote in a story in Dec 2019, the new prison on the Wabash River was seen as a boon to the community at the time, promising jobs. The press "extolled its pioneering philosophy of incarceration, from a more benevolent architectural design to its philosophy of rehabilitation”
"Key to this rehabilitation was prison labor...[FCC Terre Haute] was one of the original sites for Federal Prison Industries, Inc, the govt corporation that generates hundreds of millions of dollars by paying incarcerated people less than a dollar per hour for manufacturing work"
Anyway, the supposed rehabilitative mission was eventually stripped away. The War on Drugs fueled the federal prison population — and in 1988, relaunched the federal death penalty, which was then vastly expanded by the Clinton administration in the 1990s. theintercept.com/2019/07/29/dea…
Moments ago, the vans returned to the training center, along with the media witnesses. Dunno why. At this point they are usually being processed through prison security before being taken to the death chamber. So perhaps there is a delay while litigation plays out.
View from the media room. This local reporter has witnessed all five executions until now. The first two executions in July became all-night ordeals for witnessing press and were decried as illegal by numerous death penalty lawyers.
https://twitter.com/TribStarLisa/status/1308514932812644356
As we wait, this is a critical new investigation into an ongoing area of concern & litigation. For years, autopsies of people executed via lethal injection have shown signs of pulmonary edema. NPR got even more autopsies, widening the scope of this inquiry npr.org/2020/09/21/793…
One of the experts in the NPR investigation is Mark Edgar, whose findings on pulmonary edema were revelatory when I saw him testify during this TN trial in 2018. “I was struck by the abnormality in the lungs...All of the lungs were heavy with fluid.” theintercept.com/2018/08/05/dea…
These findings have been especially important in Ohio, where executions remain on hold, thanks in large part to a judge who actually has been willing to listen to the science. theintercept.com/2019/02/07/dea…
What I found most compelling about the NPR investigation is that it found evidence of pulmonary edema in the older autopsies of people executed using what used to be the prevailing execution method in the US: 3-drug lethal injection using sodium thiopental npr.org/2020/09/21/793…
Last month, an autopsy report for Wesley Purkey (the second man to die in the federal execution chamber this year), showed signs consistent with pulmonary edema. But such evidence has not been enough to stop the subsequent executions. deathpenaltyinfo.org/news/autopsy-r…
OK, so somehow I’ve been sitting on this bench outside the training center for more than 2 hours. No word yet. And no sense in going inside because the media room is restricted to media witnesses. No accommodations for non-witnessing press. Which is weird! At least it’s nice out.
Thread on litigation over William LeCroy's scheduled execution. Somewhat like other challenges before it, this one seeks to reschedule the execution for when the pandemic is over. LeCroy's lawyer is immunocompromised and can't be with his client.
https://twitter.com/DeathPenaltyRep/status/1308507917620883456
Some movement in front of the training center. A driver just got into the first van & started the engine. BOP official in a suit & black facemask paused to talk to him. It'll be dark soon. Meanwhile one of the media witnesses has been tweeting from inside.
https://twitter.com/georgehale/status/1308540409413537794
Media witnesses are filing back into the vans. Looks like things are moving forward.
At the Dollar General across from the prison, anti-death penalty activists have been protesting and holding vigil for hours. (Many have gone home by now. Another contingent of activists is in DC this time, protesting in front of the DOJ.)
As we wait for word on the execution, here is background on LeCroy's case, including quotes from his clemency petition. He was convicted of raping and killing Joann Lee Tiesler, a 30-year-old nurse in Georgia. ajc.com/news/georgia-n…
Email just came from BOP telling press to report back to the media center. This confirms that LeCroy has been executed.
A handful of activists still outside the Dollar General. Sister Barbara Battista, LeCroy’s spiritual advisor, will be meeting them soon.
The BOP provided this statement from the victim’s father, Tom Tiesler.
Sister Barbara Battista, LeCroy’s spiritual advisor, at the Dollar General after the execution. Whereas victims’ families are allowed to make a statement to the press, facilitated by the BOP, she & others who witness on behalf of the condemned are barred from the media center.
LeCroy mailed a last statement to Sister Barbara, which she was supposed to get before the execution. But it has yet to arrive. She says she will have more to say when it does. In the meantime, everyone is going home to try to get some rest. There’s another execution on Thursday.
It's late, but here's my story on the next man scheduled to die here. Christopher Vialva was with William LeCroy right until the BOP took him to his death tonight. Now he is alone on the death watch range. His mom is at a hotel nearby. More in the story. theintercept.com/2020/09/20/fed…
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