Four people related to the murder victims of a man set to be executed in Indiana Monday are asking a judge to delay the execution because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Daniel Lee was sentenced to death in 1999 for the 1996 murders of Nancy Mueller, William Mueller, and Sarah Powell.
Lee is one of three condemned men scheduled for execution next week at the United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute. His attorneys filed an injunction to delay the execution to 2021 due to the pandemic.
Eighty-one-year-old Earlene Peterson, Nancy Mueller’s mother and Powell’s grandmother, said in court documents that traveling to Terre Haute for Lee’s execution would pose a health risk to her and others because of the pandemic.
Peterson previously stated she opposes Lee’s execution and want’s President Trump to commute Lee’s sentence to life in prison.
Two other plaintiffs, Kimma Gurel, and Monica Veillette, are related to Mueller and Powell and signed onto the injunction. They signed onto a “motion to intervene” document supporting a complaint filed against the government by a Buddhist monk who serves as a spiritual advisor one of the condemned men.
Dale Hartkemeyer is providing spiritual guidance to Wesley Purkey, who is scheduled for execution on July 15.
