Alabama man faces 2nd execution date this year for killing

An Alabama antheral who avoided execution successful February is scheduled to beryllium enactment to decease Thursday for the 1991 sidesplitting of a pistillate taken astatine gunpoint from an ATM determination and changeable successful a cemetery.

Willie B. Smith III, 52, is acceptable to person a lethal injection astatine 6 p.m. CDT astatine a southwest Alabama situation for his condemnation successful the kidnapping and execution of 22-year-old Sharma Ruth Johnson.

Prosecutors said Smith had a shotgun erstwhile helium abducted Johnson successful October 1991 from an ATM determination successful Birmingham. He withdrew wealth utilizing her slope paper and past took her to a cemetery and changeable her successful the backmost of the head. Johnson was the sister of a Birmingham constabulary officer.

This is Smith’s 2nd execution day this year.

Last Feb. 11 — portion Smith was successful a holding compartment adjacent Alabama's decease enclosure — the authorities called disconnected a lethal injection erstwhile the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an injunction affirming helium could not beryllium executed unless allowed to person his pastor by his side.

Ad

The Alabama situation strategy has present said Smith volition beryllium capable to person his pastor with him Thursday successful the decease chamber.

Smith's attorneys person urged the courts to enactment the latest execution plans, saying the inmate has an intelligence disablement that prevented him from knowing the situation paperwork related to enactment of an execution method.

Experts person estimated Smith's IQ from 64 connected the debased extremity and 75 connected the precocious end, but courts person ruled helium is not intellectually disabled and frankincense eligible for the decease penalty. A defence adept successful a post-trial entreaty said portion Smith's IQ was measured astatine 64, his language, reading, and mathematics skills, and that these peculiar results were inconsistent with a diagnosis of intelligence disability.

The Supreme Court ruled successful 2002 that executing intellectually disabled radical is unconstitutional. In reviewing Smith's lawsuit successful 2019, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a aboriginal Supreme Court determination that “states whitethorn not measurement a defendant’s adaptive strengths against his adaptive deficits” successful determining disablement did not retroactively use to Smith.

Ad

Last-minute tribunal filings centered connected whether Smith should person fixed assistance to recognize the signifier distributed to decease enactment inmates successful 2018 regarding enactment of an execution method. After adopting nitrogen hypoxia arsenic an execution method, authorities instrumentality gave inmates a 30-day model to petition that arsenic their preferred execution method.

If Smith had requested nitrogen hypoxia, his decease condemnation could not beryllium carried retired to day due to the fact that the authorities has not yet developed a strategy for utilizing nitrogen to execute inmates.

The Department of Corrections changed immoderate procedures successful the look of the COVID-19 pandemic. The situation strategy limited media witnesses to the execution to 1 journalist, a typical from The Associated Press.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.