Federal Execution Delayed for Convicted Marijuana Trafficker

DRUG TRAFFICKING April 1995

The Federal Bureau of Prisons has delayed the execution of convicted drug trafficker David Ronald Chandler, which was to be the first execution of a federal inmate since 1963 ("First Execution Scheduled Under Federal Drug Kingpin Law," Drug Enforcement Report, Mar. 23, 1995, p. 6; Marcia Coyle, "Delay Expected for Federal Execution," National Law Journal, Mar. 27, 1995, p. A14).

Chandler was the first person to be sentenced to death under the Federal Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988. He was convicted of ordering the murder of Marlin Shuler, a member of his drug trafficking operation who had been acting as a police informant. Chandler has been awaiting execution in the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Officials had set an execution date of Mar. 30, surprising Chandler's attorneys, who had been preparing a habeas corpus petition. No new date has been set.