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The federal government just announced plans to execute Lezmond Mitchell, the only Native American on federal death row, on August 26th. This is despite the opposition from the Navajo Nation, members of the victims' family, and the local prosecutor.
When the Federal Death Penalty Act was enacted, Congress promised that no Native American would be sentenced to die for a crime committed against another Native American or on Native American land, unless the tribe consents. The government, predictably, betrayed that promise.
The victims were also Navajo. The incident happened in the Navajo Nation, where the death penalty does not exist. To execute Mr. Mitchell (amid a pandemic!) would be more horrifying federal overreach.
In what the Ninth Circuit calls a “betrayal of a promise made to the Navajo Nation,” the DOJ exploited a legal loophole and ultimately sought, and won, the death penalty. Oh, and other Navajos were systematically excluded from his jury, resulting in 11 white jurors and 1 Navajo.
