{"id":4010,"date":"2020-07-14T21:55:29","date_gmt":"2020-07-14T21:55:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/?p=4010"},"modified":"2024-05-20T20:19:17","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T20:19:17","slug":"executed-daniel-lewis-lee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/executed-daniel-lewis-lee\/","title":{"rendered":"Executed: Daniel Lewis Lee"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Daniel Lewis Lee died this morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s unremarkable, by itself. Roughly 150,000 people die every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cause of death varies. Diseases kill some of us. Others die in accidents. Civil authorities kill those who deserve death. In their government’s opinion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lethal overdose of pentobarbital, administered under the authority of the U.S. Federal government, killed Daniel Lewis Lee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s a sort of poetic justice in that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A court convicted Lee of at least helping Chevie Kehoe kill William and Nancy Mueller and Sarah Powell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seems that after using a stun gun on their victims, Lee and\/or Kehoe put plastic bags over their heads. Sealing the bags with duct tape, ensuring that they’d suffocate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oddly enough, I’ve yet to see the incident used as evidence that we should ban plastic bags and duct tape. Or stun guns. And that’s another topic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The point is that our legal system convicted Lee and Kehoe of suffocating their victims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That makes pentobarbital an appropriate poison, in an ‘eye for an eye’ sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pentobarbital affects the central nervous system. In smallish doses, it’ll help someone sleep, or numb pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In large doses, pentobarbital stops respiration: resulting in death.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Executions, Grassroots and Federal<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"'Police<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As I see it, there’s no reasonable doubt that someone killed William, Nancy and Sarah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The odds are that Daniel Lee and\/or Chevie Kehoe are responsible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chevie Kehoe and his family apparently took property from the William Mueller home to Spokane, Washington. And were caught.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chevie Kehoe was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Local prosecutors wanted the same sentence for Daniel Lee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An assortment of federal attorneys wanted Lee dead: legally executed. They apparently followed my country’s proper procedures, and eventually got what they wanted.2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why federal officials wanted Lee’s execution, that I don’t know. What I do know suggests at least two (perhaps unlikely) motives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

News media says Daniel Lee was a white supremacist. Maybe federal officials wanted to make an example of him, showing that the government isn’t racist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the victims was a gun dealer. Maybe the federal officials are minions of the gun lobby, seeking to please their masters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Either of those hypothetical motives might play well for some audiences. I don’t have nearly enough information to know why the feds wanted Lee dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That his execution was conducted under federal, not state, authority? That, I’m sure of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m also reasonably certain that the case against Daniel Lee was less rickety than what convicted Leo Frank in 1913. (March 19, 2018<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Last Words<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\"Oct.<\/a>Daniel Lee’s criminal record strongly suggests that he wasn’t a nice person. And that he was capable of murder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ll assume that he knew Chevie Kehoe. Maybe he’s at least partly responsible for the 1996 murders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By standards that were more widely accepted in my youth, Daniel Lewis Lee deserved death. Assuming that he did, in fact, commit those murders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He says he didn’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which strikes me as a bit odd. Assuming that the “white supremacist” label is applicable. And assuming that Dylann Roof is a typical white supremacist. (January 11, 2017<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Daniel Lewis Lee’s last words<\/strong>, officially:
“… ‘I didn’t do it. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life but I’m not a murderer. You’re killing an innocent man’….”
(Ariane de Vogue, Chandelis Duster, David Shortell<\/a>, CNN (July 14, 2020))<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>“…We Do Not Want This”<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\"Law<\/a>By standards that are still widely accepted, kinfolk of the victims should have been clamoring for Lee’s blood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Killing someone who was at least partly responsible for a relative’s death is, apparently, supposed to make survivors feel better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s arguably some truth in that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If someone killed my wife, children or grandchild, I might feel like killing the murderer. As slowly and painfully as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emphasis on “feel like.” Emotions are one thing. Decisions are another. (June 6, 2020<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That self-knowledge helps me sympathize with folks who express desires that the avenging sword of justice slay miscreants, malefactors and murderers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I think Monica Veillette and other relatives of the 1996 murder victims have the right idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Statement by Monica Veillette<\/strong>, relative of a victim, via KTUL
“…’She [Monica Viellette] said other relatives want to witness the execution to counter the government’s argument that it’s being done on their behalf.
“‘For us it is a matter of being there and saying, “This is not being done in our name; we do not want this,”‘…”
(Andrew DeMillo\/Associated Press<\/a>, KTUL News (July 13, 2020))<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Life, Death and Justice<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\"Philippe<\/a>Murder, deliberately killing an innocent person, is a bad idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I figure many folks would agree with that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although I think there’s less consensus on who qualifies as a person and what “innocent” means. And that’s yet another topic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think murder is wrong because human life is sacred, a gift from God. Each of our lives matter, no matter how young or old, healthy or sick we are. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2258, 2261, 2268-2283)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s why I’m obliged to see Daniel Lewis Lee as a person. One whose life mattered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His life mattered because he’s human. What he did, and what he may have believed, doesn’t change that. (Catechism, 360, 1700\u20131706, 1932-1933, 1935)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responsibility and justice matter, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can try helping or hurting others. We all can. And I’m responsible for my actions. (Catechism, 1701-1709, 1730-1738, 2258)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justice is a cardinal virtue. Vengeance isn’t. (Deuteronomy 32:35<\/a>; Sirach 27:27<\/a>–28<\/a>; Romans 12:19<\/a>; Hebrews 10:30<\/a>–31<\/a>; Catechism, 1807, 2262)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Pieter<\/a>Murder is a serious injustice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Catholic Church says killing a murderer is okay. Sometimes. If the killer’s guilt is reasonably certain. And if killing the killer really is the only option for protecting innocent lives. (Catechism, 2267)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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UPDATE<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of August 2018, Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2267, no longer recognizes killing prisoners as a last-resort policy for dealing with folks convicted of crimes. I discussed that in 2024:<\/p>\n\n\n\n