US government executes third prisoner after 17-year hiatus

The U.S. Department of Justice executed a convicted murderer on Friday in the third federal execution within a week after a 17-year hiatus, according to a reporter serving as a media witness.

Dustin Lee Honken, 52, was a dealer in illegal methamphetamine when he and his girlfriend murdered five people in Iowa in 1993, including two girls aged 10 and 6. He was convicted in 2004.

Honken was pronounced dead at 4:36 p.m. EDT at the Justice Department's execution chamber at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, the media witness said.