A No Trespassing sign stands in front the federal prison complex in Terre Haute, Ind., Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2020.
(AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)WASHINGTON A panel of federal appeals court judges is letting the U.S. government proceed with the planned execution of a man who kidnapped, raped and killed a 10-year-old Kansas girl.
Chutkan's 13-page opinion putting Nelson's execution on hold came hours after the government carried out the execution of Lezmond Mitchell, the only Native American on federal death row, despite objections from many Navajo leaders.
With Mitchell's execution, the federal government has now carried out more executions in 2020 than it had in the previous 56 years combined.
For three federal executions in the early 2000s, the government used different drugs, but pharmaceutical companies later refused to allow those drugs to be used in executions, forcing the federal and many state governments to seek an alternative.