In New Podcast, Rush to Kill Documents 6‑Month Federal Execution Spree Under President Donald Trump’s Administration

In July 2020, President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice, under the direc­tion of Attorney General Bill Barr, resumed fed­er­al exe­cu­tions for the first time in 17 years. Over the course of the fol­low­ing six months, 13 fed­er­al death row pris­on­ers were exe­cut­ed. During those six months, the WFIU News team was grant­ed the oppor­tu­ni­ty to report on and wit­ness all 13 exe­cu­tions at United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute in Indiana. In the time since these exe­cu­tions, the WFIU News team col­lect­ed doc­u­ments and inter­viewed those con­nect­ed to every fed­er­al exe­cu­tion car­ried out since 2001, cul­mi­nat­ing in their new pod­cast series, Rush to Kill. The series high­lights the sto­ries of all 13 indi­vid­u­als exe­cut­ed dur­ing President Trump’s time in office, as well as three oth­er fed­er­al exe­cu­tions car­ried out twen­ty years ago.

Rush to Kill address­es the eth­i­cal debate sur­round­ing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment and oth­er fre­quent­ly men­tioned crit­i­cisms of the fed­er­al death penal­ty: the preva­lence of racism in sen­tenc­ing and exe­cu­tions, exe­cut­ing those with intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty and severe men­tal ill­ness, and the flawed lethal injec­tion process. The pod­cast presents evi­dence that lethal injec­tion exe­cu­tions may not be as pain­less as once thought, pro­vid­ing sto­ries and evi­dence of botched exe­cu­tions. Rush to Kill con­sid­ers how the 2024 pres­i­den­tial elec­tion will impact the 44 men cur­rent­ly on fed­er­al death row. President Joseph Biden cam­paigned on a plat­form call­ing for abo­li­tion of the fed­er­al death penal­ty but has tak­en no steps towards abo­li­tion since tak­ing office. In July 2021, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced a mora­to­ri­um on fed­er­al exe­cu­tions to con­sid­er the exe­cu­tion pro­to­col and Justice Manual changes made by AG Barr. Despite the Department of Justice’s exe­cu­tion mora­to­ri­um, DOJ pros­e­cu­tors con­tin­ue to aggres­sive­ly defend the death sen­tences of the 42 men on the fed­er­al death row.

Episodes of Rush to Kill will be released every Thursday from October 12 through November 30, 2023, and will be avail­able on all major pod­cast plat­forms, as well as WFIU’s Rush to Kill website.