Mitchell was the first Native American sentenced to death since the resumption of the federal death penalty in 1994 and the only Native American awaiting his punishment. (Courtesy Auska Mitchell via AP)WASHINGTON The only Native American man on federal death row is asking a judge to halt his execution until he receives a determination to his clemency petition from the Justice Department and President Donald Trump. Mitchell submitted a clemency petition to the Justice Department after his execution was scheduled earlier this summer. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mitchell was the first Native American sentenced to death since the resumption of the federal death penalty in 1994 and the only Native American currently awaiting execution.

A federal judge in Indiana on Friday halted the first federal execution planned in 17 years scheduled three days from now over COVID-19 concerns. Daniel Lee had been scheduled to die by lethal injection on Monday. The injunction delays the execution until there is no longer such an emergency. Lee, 47, of Yukon, Oklahoma, was convicted in Arkansas of the 1996 killings of gun dealer William Mueller, his wife, Nancy, and her 8-year-old daughter, Sarah Powell. The relatives of the victims had pleaded for years that Lee instead should receive the same life sentence as the ringleader in the deadly scheme.