Lezmond Mitchell, the only Native American on federal death row, is seeking an 11th-hour plea to the Trump administration to stop the execution on Wednesday.
The Navajo Nation’s government is asking for a last-minute intervention by President Trump and requesting clemency on the basis that the death penalty violates Navajo culture and sovereignty, according to the Independent.
The Supreme Court did not step in to halt the execution on Tuesday.
“Mitchell’s life is in president Trump’s hands, and we hope the president will demonstrate his respect for tribal sovereignty and grant Mitchell the mercy of executive clemency,” said Jonathan Aminoff and Celeste Bacchi, Mitchell’s lawyers, in a statement.
Mitchell, 38, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, on Wednesday.
He was convicted in the 2001 killing of 9-year-old Tiffany Lee and her 63-year-old grandmother Alyce Slim alongside an accomplice, Johnny Orsinger. The two attacked the family after they offered them a ride while hitchhiking on the Navajo Nation.
Slim was stabbed 33 times. Tiffany’s throat was slit, and she was stoned to death. The bodies were both later mutilated.
Under federal law, Native American tribes can decide whether their citizens should be subjected to the death penalty for crimes involving Native Americans on tribal land.
Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez wrote to Trump in July, asking him to reduce Mitchell’s sentence to life in prison.
“This request honors our religious and traditional beliefs, the Navajo Nation’s long-standing position on the death penalty for Native Americans, and our respect for the decision of the victim’s family,” Nez wrote, according to NBC News.
The Trump administration has continued with death sentences throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
After the Justice Department announced a series of executions in July, Attorney General William Barr said the department is going after “the worst criminals … convicted by a jury of his peers after a full and fair proceeding.”
“We owe it to the victims and their families to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system,” Barr said.
