Dustin Higgs
Dustin Higgs was executed by lethal injection by the federal government at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, on January 16, 2021, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. His attorneys said he had spent decades on death row helping other incarcerated men, and his clemency petition described a traumatic childhood and the loss of his mother to cancer when he was 10. His lawyers argued it was arbitrary and unfair to execute him while a co-defendant who fired the shots was spared a death sentence, and his attorney said he had been sick with COVID-19 and should not have been killed during the pandemic. Higgs maintained his innocence in his final words, and his lawyers' requests for clemency and a temporary stay were overruled by higher courts.
Cause of death, as reported: Executed by the state. His lawyers argued the execution was arbitrary and inequitable because a co-defendant who fired the shots was spared a death sentence, and his attorney said he had COVID-19 and should not have been executed during the pandemic; in his final words he maintained his innocence.
Reported by: Federal Bureau of Prisons (the agency that held him); news reporting on the execution at the federal prison in Terre Haute (reporters).