Dozens of current and incoming congressmen have signed a letter by Rep. Ayanna Pressley
Ayanna Pressley Dozens of Democrats urge Biden to end the federal death penalty quickly. Pressley urges Newsom to appoint a black woman to Harris’ seat. (D-Mass.) Call for the next government to make the abolition of the death penalty a priority once the elected president becomes Joe Biden
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In the letter, reported by CNN, Pressley criticizes the Trump administration for resuming federal executions this year amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and for executing “more people in six months than the total number executed in the past six decades.” “
“The current administration has armed the death penalty with heartless disregard for human life,” Pressley said.
“With a stroke of the pen, you can stop all federal executions, ban United States attorneys from seeking the death penalty, dismantle death row at FCC Terre Haute, and call for the re-conviction of people currently under sentence of death,” Pressley continued in the letter to Biden.
“Each of these elements is crucial to help prevent greater damage and further loss of life,” she added.
According to CNN, 40 current members of Congress and three newly elected lawmakers have joined Pressley.
The Hill has contacted Pressley’s office for comment.
Biden has pledged to work on legislation to abolish the federal death penalty and encourage states to encourage them to do the same, though Congressional Democrats are pushing for an immediate end to the federal death penalty once he takes office on Jan. 20.
News of the letter comes days after Brandon Bernard’s controversial federal execution.
Bernard had been executed by injection of phenobarbital on Thursday, despite widespread calls from the public and prominent figures such as Kim Kardashian
Kimberly (Kim) Noel Kardashian West Dozens of Democrats urge Biden to quickly end federal death penalty Federal government executes Louisiana man who murdered 2-year-old daughter Kim Kardashian West, criticizes execution of Brandon Bernard MORE demand that execution be stopped.
He was such a reformed person. So hopeful and positive to the end. More importantly, he is sorry, so I am sorry for the pain and pain he has caused others, ”Kardashian said after his death.
Bernard, 40 at the time of his death, was 18 years old when he was involved in the kidnapping and murder of a religious couple in Texas. The couple, who are from Iowa, were reportedly placed in the trunk of a car by a group of teenagers and shot by a man named Christopher Vialva.
Vialva was the first black man to die by federal execution since the Trump administration resumed sentence in the summer after 17 years of hiatus.
Another black man, Alfred Bourgeois, was also executed last week. Three more inmates will be executed before Biden takes office, according to The Associated Press. Two of them are also black men and the other is a white woman.
Last year, Pressley introduced a measure aimed at abolishing the death penalty shortly after the Trump administration announced it would resume the form of punishment.
Calls for the move have only increased in light of the Trump administration’s move to continue executions, even as the transfer of power continues to the next administration.