Column: The injustice of Dustin Higgs' federally sanctioned death

“Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.” - Martin Luther King

Dustin Higgs, 48 years-old, was injected with lethal dose of barbiturate at the Department of Justice’s execution chamber in Terre Haute, Indiana on Jan. 16, 2021.

He is the 13th and last federal death row inmate to be executed since the Justice Department restarted federal executions in July 2019. He had been convicted of kidnapping and murdering three women in 1996.

Higgs' victims were Tamika Black, Tanji Jackson, and Mishann Chinn. His last few words were “I'd like to say I am an innocent man," he said, mentioning the three women by name. "I did not order the murders," the report said.

Higgs' execution went forward despite his attorney, Shawn Nolan's appeal to delay the proceeding because of Higgs' Covid-19 diagnosis. Nolan also argued that Higgs was unfairly sentenced, since the actual gunman is serving a life sentence.

On Jan. 29 Higgs family buried him in a cemetery in his hometown Poughkeepsie, New York. Alexa Cave (Higgs’s sister) said, “They Killed my brother!”

Higgs and Willis Haynes were convicted at separate trials for the 1996 murders. Haynes who confessed to shooting the women, received life sentence, Higgs who prosecutors said handed Haynes his gun and ordered him to kill, was sentenced to death.