Published on: Friday, July 17, 2020

The Justice Department has executed Dustin Lee Honken, 52, in Terre Haute, Ind., the third federal inmate put to death by the government this week. A coroner pronounced him dead by lethal injection at 4:36 p.m. ET Friday (article available here).

For his last words, he turned to the writings of a Jesuit priest, Gerard Manley Hopkins, reciting lines from the poem Heaven-Haven.

"He recognized and repented for the crimes he had committed, and spent his time in prison atoning for them," his attorney said in a statement. He added: "There was no reason for the government to kill him, in haste or at all. In any case, they failed. The Dustin Honken they wanted to kill is long gone. The man they killed today was a human being, who could have spent the rest of his days helping others and further redeeming himself. May he rest in peace."

Early Friday morning, a federal appeals court denied Honken's last-ditch request to block the execution.

Attorney General William Barr relaunched executions this week for the first time since 2003. He has scheduled another execution in late August.