Faith leaders are speaking out against the federal government’s decision to begin executing federal prisoners, decrying the Trump administration’s decision to end a nearly two-decade-long moratorium on the federal death penalty.
The outcry came as the US Department of Justice carried out its second execution in a week on July 16, killing 68-year-old Wesley Purkey by lethal injection after he was convicted in 2003 of raping and murdering a 16-year-old girl as well as killing an 80-year-old woman.
Purkey’s death followed the July 14 execution of Daniel Lewis Lee, who was convicted for his involvement in the killing of a family of three. Dustin Honken, who was convicted of shooting and killing five people in July 1993, was executed on July 17.
