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Daniel Lewis Lee put to death in first US federal execution in 17 years

Daniel Lewis Lee will be executed this afternoon: Spokane Police Department/AFP vi
Daniel Lewis Lee will be executed this afternoon: Spokane Police Department/AFP vi

US murderer Daniel Lewis Lee has been put to death, hours after the Supreme Court allowed the first executions of federal inmates in 17 years.

The 47-year-old, of Yukon, Oklahoma, died by lethal injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.

"I didn't do it," Lee said just before he was executed. "I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, but I'm not a murderer. ... You're killing an innocent man."

Lee was convicted in Arkansas of the 1996 killings of gun dealer William Mueller, his wife, Nancy, and her eight-year-old daughter.

The execution was delayed after Judge Tanya Chutkan of the district court in Washington DC issued an injunction. The Supreme Court then voted to reverse lower court rulings that blocked Lee’s execution and others.

The decision to move forward with the execution - the first by the Bureau of Prisons since 2003 - drew scrutiny from civil rights groups and the relatives of Lee's victims, who had sued to try to halt it, citing concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.

Critics argued that the government was creating an unnecessary and manufactured urgency for political gain.