A judge has ordered the delay of the first federal execution in 17 years, that of murderer and white supremacist, Daniel Lewis Lee.

Lee was scheduled to be executed at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. However,  a lower court put the execution on hold after the victims’ family filed a lawsuit asking for a delay due to fears of being exposing to COVID-19 while viewing the execution.

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“The federal government has put this family in the untenable position of choosing between their right to witness Danny Lee’s execution and their own health and safety,” attorney Baker Kurrus said in a statement.

Per the Indianapolis Star, was sentenced to death for murdering a family of three. He was convicted in Arkansas for the 1996 deaths of William Mueller, his wife, Nancy, and 8-year-old daughter, Sarah Powell.

This is the second time U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan of the District of Columbia has ordered an injunction in this case. She added that the injunction is in the public interest, because “the public is not served by short-circuiting legitimate judicial process, and is greatly served by attempting to ensure that the most serious punishment is imposed in a manner consistent with our Constitution.”

The Department of Justice has already filed a notice saying  that it plans to appeal the decision. Lee and other death row inmates initially appealed their executions, arguing that the method of execution violated their Eighth Amendment rights.