With the Trump administration coming to an end, a frenzy to complete unfinished tasks has begun. Upsettingly enough, one of these tasks is to follow up with the execution of 48 year-old Dustin Higgs and 52 year-old Corey Johnson. 

In 1996, Higgs and multiple other men were found guilty of murdering three women. Higgs was found guilty in 2000 for multiple federal offenses including premeditated first-degree murder, three accounts of first-degree federal murder, and three accounts of kidnapping resulting in death, all accoridng to NPR. Others involved in the murders were sentenced to life in prison, with Higgs being the only one sentenced to such an extreme punishment.

As years passed, the public caught wind of the situation with Higgs and began coming to his defense. More was unveiled, showing that there was no clear evidence that would have been able to indict him for the murders directly, considering the fact that he never pulled the trigger. 

With Johnson’s execution date nearing, posts began blowing up across social media to try to postpone it. The posts encouraged users to call specific numbers and ask for the date to be pushed back, something that is commonly seen across social media. However, the calls seemed to have no overall action towards the cause and were ignored by officials.

On January 13,  Judge Tanya S. Chutkan ruled that the execution of Higgs and Johnson was to be delayed. The delay is said to be because of Higgs and Johnson’s positive COVID-19 test and the fear of infecting staff that comes in contact with them. There was also a concern that the lung damage caused by COVID-19 would increase their risk of having painful edema, or fluid in the lungs after the lethal injection is injected. The execution was then pushed back to a date where the Biden administration would be in control. 

The Biden administration has mentioned multiple times that they oppose the federal execution. It was recently revealed that the new legislation would abolish it, as well. The public focused on this quite heavily, emphasizing that the executions feel rushed and to delay them until the new administration is established and to allow them to handle the situation.

An appeal was recently released that the delay of the execution is being ignored and Higgs and Johnson are to be executed on Friday, January 15. This change caused an explosion across social media, many were angry and frustrated with the lack of empathy and the sudden change from officials. Mainstream media took to Instagram, Twitter, and more to encourage people to call officials’ offices and demand the delay of the executions once again.

However, the efforts made by the public were ignored. On January 16, Higgs was pronounced dead at 1:23 a.m. at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. Johnson was executed on January 14. There was also another execution done on Wednesday of the only woman on death row, 52 year old Lisa Montgomery. 

The actions taken by the Trump administration on these executions have been questionable. The rush to complete the executions have stirred up a lot of questions as to why due to the fact that this will be the thirteenth execution within a six month period – not to mention the fact that there has not been another execution for 17 years.