A panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Peterson v. Barr, No. 20-2252 (7th Cir. July 12, 2020), ruled that the first federal execution in 17 years should go forward Monday afternoon, despite concerns raised by the victims' family members that the resurgent coronavirus risked the health of those who planned to witness Daniel Lewis Lee's death by lethal injection.
The court found that the family's argument "lacks any arguable legal basis and is therefore frivolous," rejecting the ruling on Friday by the district court (previous post located here).
"The federal government has put this family in the untenable position of choosing between their right to witness Danny Lee’s execution and their own health and safety," the attorney for the family said Sunday (article available here). "Because the government has scheduled the execution in the midst of a raging pandemic, these (family members) would have to put their lives at risk to travel cross-country at this time," the family's attorney said. "They will now appeal the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals' decision to the U.S. Supreme Court in an effort to seek reversal. My clients hope the Supreme Court and the federal government will respect their right to be present at the execution and delay it until travel is safe enough to make that possible."