Buddhist Priest Seeks to Halt Federal Execution During Pandemic

July 7, 2020

A 68-year-old Buddhist priest has asked a federal court in Indiana to halt Wesley Purkey’s scheduled July 15 execution, saying he shouldn’t be forced to choose between exercising his religious obligations to the convicted murder and the risk of catching Covid-19.

Prisons and detention facilities have become hot spots for coronavirus outbreaks, Reverend Seigen Hartkemeyer said in his July 2 complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. 

Source: Buddhist Priest Seeks to Halt Federal Execution During Pandemic - Bloomberg Law