Navajo Nation Asks Trump To Commute Death Sentence Of Native Man Facing Execution

As the U.S. government prepares to execute Lezmond Mitchell, the only Native American man on federal death row, the leaders of the Navajo Nation have asked President Trump to reduce Mitchell's sentence to life imprisonment.

"We strongly hold to our cultural, traditional, and religious beliefs that life is sacred," Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez and Vice President Myron Lizer wrote in a recent letter.

Mitchell is scheduled to be executed on Aug. 26. The federal government recently resumed executions after a 17-year hiatus. (Capital punishment is used more frequently by the states than by the federal government.)