American Indian Lezmond Mitchell Executed by Federal Government of the United States

Aug 28, 20200

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The death chamber at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind., where Navajo citizen Lezmond Mitchell was executed on Aug. 26, is the only federal death chamber in the U.S. and is equipped for lethal injection. (AP Photo/Chuck Robinson)

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - For the first time in modern history, an American Indian has been executed by the federal government for killing another tribal member on a reservation.

Navajo citizen Lezmond Charles Mitchell was put to death by lethal injection on Wednesday evening for his role in the gruesome 2001 murder of 63-year old Alyce Slim, a Navajo woman, and her nine-year old granddaughter, Tiffany Lee. Mitchell's execution took place this evening in Terre Haute, Ind. at the Federal Correctional Complex, where a small crowd gathered nearby to protest and pray. Representatives of the victims' families and the father of Tiffany Lee were in attendance at the execution.

Mitchell was pronounced dead at 6:29 Eastern Daylight Time by the Vigo County Coroner, according to a Department of Justice news release. He became the seventh person to be executed by the federal government of the United States since 1963. All have been executed by lethal injection at the United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute. Mitchell is the first indigenous person to be executed by the federal government since the 1939 hanging of Nelson Charles in Juneau, Alaska.

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