WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department said Thursday that it will carry out executions of federal death row inmates for the first time since 2003.

Five inmates who have been sentenced to death are scheduled to be executed starting in December.

In 2014, following a botched state execution in Oklahoma, then-President Barack Obama directed the department to conduct a broad review of capital punishment and issues surrounding lethal injection drugs. It remains unclear today what came of that review and whether it will change the way the federal government carries out executions.

That review has been completed and the executions can continue, the department said.

Upon the Attorney General’s direction, Acting Director Hurwitz adopted the Addendum to the Federal Execution Protocol and, in accordance with 28 C.F.R. Part 26, scheduled executions for the following individuals:

• Wesley Ira Purkey violently raped and murdered a 16-year-old girl from Kansas City and then dismembered, burned, and dumped the young girl’s body in a septic pond. He also was convicted in state court for using a claw hammer to bludgeon to death an 80-year-old woman who suffered from polio and walked with a cane.  On Nov. 5, 2003, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri found Purkey guilty of kidnapping a child resulting in the child’s death, and he was sentenced to death. Purkey’s execution is scheduled to occur on Dec. 13, 2019.

• Daniel Lewis Lee, a member of a white supremacist group, murdered a family of three, including an eight-year-old girl. After robbing and shooting the victims with a stun gun, Lee covered their heads with plastic bags, sealed the bags with duct tape, weighed down each victim with rocks, and threw the family of three into the Illinois bayou.  On May 4, 1999, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas found Lee guilty of numerous offenses, including three counts of murder in aid of racketeering, and he was sentenced to death.  Lee’s execution is scheduled to occur on Dec. 9, 2019.
• Lezmond Mitchell stabbed to death a 63-year-old grandmother and forced her nine-year-old granddaughter to sit beside her lifeless body for a 30 to 40-mile drive. Mitchell then slit the girl’s throat twice, crushed her head with 20-pound rocks, and severed and buried both victims’ heads and hands.  On May 8, 2003, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona found Mitchell guilty of numerous offenses, including first degree murder, felony murder, and carjacking resulting in murder, and he was sentenced to death.  Mitchell’s execution is scheduled to occur on Dec. 11, 2019.
• Alfred Bourgeois physically and emotionally tortured, sexually molested, and then beat to death his two-and-a-half-year-old daughter. On March 16, 2004, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas found Bourgeois guilty of multiple offenses, including murder, and he was sentenced to death.  Bourgeois’ execution is scheduled to occur on Jan. 13, 2020.
• Dustin Lee Honken shot and killed five people—two men who planned to testify against him and a single, working mother and her ten-year-old and six-year-old daughters. On Oct. 14, 2004, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa found Honken guilty of numerous offenses, including five counts of murder during the course of a continuing criminal enterprise, and he was sentenced to death.  Honken’s execution is scheduled to occur on Jan. 15, 2020.

Each of these inmates has exhausted their appellate and post-conviction remedies, and currently no legal impediments prevent their executions, which will take place at U.S. Penitentiary Terre Haute, Indiana.  Additional executions will be scheduled at a later date.

Executions on the federal level have been rare. The government has put to death only three defendants since restoring the federal death penalty in 1988, the most recent of which occurred in 2003, when Louis Jones was executed for the 1995 kidnapping, rape and murder of a young female soldier.

“Congress has expressly authorized the death penalty through legislation adopted by the people’s representatives in both houses of Congress and signed by the President,” Attorney General William Barr said in a news release. “The Justice Department upholds the rule of law_and we owe it to the victims and their families to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system.”

Capital punishment has emerged as a flashpoint in the Democratic presidential primary, with former Vice President Joe Biden this week shifting to call for the elimination of the federal death penalty after years of supporting it. Biden’s criminal justice plan also would encourage states to follow the federal government in ending the death penalty, 25 years after he helped pass a tough crime bill that expanded capital punishment for more potential offenses.

The lone Democratic White House hopeful who has publicly supported preserving capital punishment in certain circumstances is Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, who has said he would leave it open as an option for major crimes such as terrorism.

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BARTON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on requested drug charges in Barton County.

This week, officers executed a search warrant at 5807 Aspen in Great Bend, according to Great Bend Police. Officers found methamphetamine, marijuana, prescription pills and drug paraphernalia inside of the residence.

They arrested 30-year-old  Frank Relmar Jr. on requested charges of Distribution of methamphetamine within 1000 feet of a school, Possession of methamphetamine, Possession of marijuana, Possession of prescription pills, Possession of drug paraphernalia and theft of services and booked into the Barton County Detention Center. He is being held on a bond of $300,000, according to the sheriff’s department.

SALINE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a burglary involving guns and ammunition.

Sometime between 6 a.m. and 9:20 p.m. Wednesday, someone forced open the back door of a residence in the 100 block of South Third while the owner was away, according to Saline County Sheriff Roger Soldan.

The owner is still working on a complete list of stolen items, however 46 guns were taken including 34 long guns, 12 handguns, $500 worth of $2 bills and some ammunition, according to Soldan.

Total loss thus far is estimated at $12,407.

The owner has been able to provide serial numbers for some of the guns. Those serial numbers have already been entered into the National Crime Information Center database, according to the sheriff.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man with a history of making hoax 911 reports has been charged with reporting a fake bank robbery and then actually carrying out the crime less than two hours later.

Jeremy Voss was charged Wednesday in federal court with bank robbery. Wichita police spokesman Officer Kevin Wheeler says Voss made a fake report before approaching a teller Tuesday with a note that said he was armed and wanted cash. Wheeler says Voss then fled with the money.

Voss had been on probation since 2017 in a case where he lied about purported emergencies. A police affidavit shows that Voss reportedly called 911 several times in 2016 and 2017 to report house and building fires, traffic crashes and other events that never happened.