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Ronald Smith Alabama Execution

Ronald Smith was executed by the State of Alabama for the murder of a store clerk. According to court documents Ronald Smith would shoot and kill Casey Wilson during an armed robber at a convenience store. Ronald Smith would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Ronald Smith would be executed on December 8, 2016 by lethal injection

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Thirteen minutes into his execution by injection, an Alabama inmate heaved and coughed and appeared to move during tests meant to determine consciousness.

Ronald Smith Jr., 45, was finally pronounced dead at 11:05 p.m. Thursday night – about 30 minutes after the procedure began at the state prison in southwest Alabama.

Alabama uses the sedative midazolam as the first drug in a three-drug lethal injection combination. Smith and other inmates argued in a court case that the drug was an unreliable sedative and could cause them to feel pain, citing its use in problematic executions. The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the use of the drug.

Ronald Smith was convicted of capital murder in the Nov. 8, 1994, fatal shooting of Huntsville store clerk Casey Wilson. A jury voted 7-5 to recommend a sentence of life imprisonment, but a judge overrode that recommendation and sentenced Smith to death.

At the beginning of his execution, Ronald Smith heaved and coughed repeatedly, clenching his fists and raising his head.

A prison guard performed two consciousness checks before the final two lethal drugs were administered. In a consciousness test, a prison officer says the inmate’s name, brushes his eyelashes and then pinches his left arm. During the first one, Smith moved his arm. He slightly raised his right arm again after the second consciousness test.

The meaning of those movements will likely be debated. One of Smith’s attorneys whispered to another attorney, “He’s reacting,” and pointed out the inmate’s repeated movements.

The state prison commissioner said he did not see any reaction to the consciousness tests.

“We do know we followed our protocol. We are absolutely convinced of that,” Alabama Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn said Thursday evening.

When asked if the movements indicated the state’s process should be changed, Dunn said: “There will be an autopsy that will be done on Mr. Smith and if there were any irregularities those will hopefully be shown or born out in the autopsy. I think the question is probably better left to the medical experts.”

Alabama’s execution recalled memories of a botched 2014 execution in Oklahoma. In that execution, inmate Clayton Lockett writhed on the gurney, moaned and pulled up from his restraints after being administered the state’s three-drug execution protocol. Execution team members considered trying to save his life and took Lockett to an emergency room before he finally died, 43 minutes after his initial injection.

Just before Thursday night’s execution began, Ronald Smith replied, “No ma’am” when asked by the prison warden if he had any final words. A member of Wilson’s family, who was not identified, witnessed the execution. The victim’s family did not make a statement.

Wilson was pistol-whipped and then shot in the head during the robbery, court documents show. Surveillance video showed Smith entering the store and recovering spent shell casings from the bathroom where Wilson was shot, according to the record.

In overriding the jury’s recommendation at the 1995 trial, a judge likened the slaying to an execution, saying Wilson had already been pistol-whipped into submission and Ronald Smith ignored his pleas for mercy. Wilson had a newborn infant at the time of his death.

“The trial court described Smith’s acts as ‘an execution style slaying.’ Tonight, justice was finally served,” Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange said in a statement after the execution.

U.S. Supreme Court justices twice paused the execution as Smith’s attorneys argued for a delay, saying a judge shouldn’t have been able to impose the death penalty when a jury recommended he receive life imprisonment.

Four liberal justices said they would have halted the execution, but five were needed to do so.

Smith’s attorneys had urged the nation’s highest court to block the planned execution to review the judge’s override.

Smith’s lawyers argued a January decision that struck down Florida’s death penalty structure because it gave too much power to judges raises legal questions about Alabama’s process. In Alabama, a jury can recommend a sentence of life without parole, but a judge can override that recommendation to impose a death sentence. Alabama is the only state that allows judicial override, they argued.

“Alabama is alone among the states in allowing a judge to sentence someone to death based on judicial fact finding contrary to a jury’s verdict,” attorneys for Smith wrote Wednesday.

Lawyers for the state argued in a court filing Tuesday that the sentence was legally sound, and that it is appropriate for judges to make the sentencing decision.

Smith, the son of a NASA contract employee, became an Eagle Scout at 15, but his life spiraled downward because of alcoholism, according to a clemency request to Alabama’s governor. He had a final meal of fried chicken and french fries and was visited during the day by his parents and son.

Alabama has been attempting to resume executions after a lull caused by a shortage of execution drugs and litigation over the drugs used.

The state executed Christopher Eugene Brooks in January for the 1993 rape and beating death of a woman. It was the state’s first execution since 2013. Judges stayed two other executions that had been scheduled this year.

https://abc11.com/inmate-death-by-injection-alabama-lethal-penalty-ronald-bert-smith/1647562/

Christopher Brooks Alabama Execution

Christopher Brooks was executed by the State of Alabama for the sexual assault and murder of a woman in 1992. According to court documents Christopher Brooks attacked Jo Deann Campbell who he would then sexually assault and then murder. Christopher Brooks would be sentenced to death and executed by lethal injection on January 21, 2016

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Christopher Brooks, convicted of the 1992 rape, murder and robbery of Jo Deann Campbell, was put to death Thursday night in the first execution carried out in Alabama in almost 2 1/2 years.

Brooks was declared dead at 6:38 p.m., about 20 minutes after being administered a three-drug lethal injection. Media witnesses present said there did not appear to be signs of struggle or distress during the procedure.

Brooks said before the execution he was grateful for the love of his friends.

“I hope this brings closure to everyone involved,” he said. “These last two years have been amazing. I hope to see you soon.”

Investigators found Campbell on Dec. 31, 1992, partially clothed and beaten with a weight in her apartment in Homewood. Brooks had met Campbell while working as a camp counselor. Campbell allowed Brooks to sleep on her floor the evening before.

Police found a bloody fingerprint belonging to Brooks at the scene, and later found Brooks with Campbell’s car keys and credit card. A jury convicted Brooks, 43, in 1993 of the crime, a conviction upheld in the state’s appellate courts.

In a statement, Mona Campbell, Jo Deann Campbell’s mother, said the execution would not bring the family closure but would relieve them from “appeal after appeal, keeping my family stressed for 23 years.”

“This execution did not and will not bring back my precious youngest daughter, who I love with all my heart,” Mona Campbell said in the statement. “I know she is in heaven with her father, and someday God will allow me to join them. I hope that Brooks, who has done this horrible inhumane act, has made his peace with God.”

Media witnesses said Christopher Brooks spoke with a chaplain and held his hand as the drugs were administered. Tim Lockette of The Anniston Star said shortly after, “he closed his eyes, his lips parted, his breathing grew more shallow.” Kent Faulk of al.com said Brooks did not appear to be moving by 6:19 p.m. The curtain closed on witnesses at 6:30 p.m., indicating all the drugs had been administered.

Alabama last executed an inmate on July 25, 2013. Executions came to a halt due to a shortage of drugs used in the execution, particularly the sedatives meant to render the condemned inmate unconscious before the injection of the fatal chemicals. Legal challenges to lethal injection also slowed the execution process.

The state switched the sedative from sodium thiopental to pentobarbital after Hospira, the maker of sodium thiopental, discontinued its manufacture in the United States in 2011. The state acknowledged in early 2014 it had run out of pentobarbital. But in a filing with the Alabama Supreme Court in September, the Alabama Attorney General’s office said it had secured midazolam hydrochloride as a sedative.

Florida has used midazolam in its executions since 2013, without reported incident. But the drug was present in executions in Ohio, Oklahoma and Arizona in 2014, where inmates took a lengthy time to die. In two cases, reporters said inmates appeared to be gasping or choking through the process.

Witnesses said Christopher Brooks did not show any signs of distress during the execution.

“Specifically for the execution of Mr. Brooks, it went exactly according to our protocol,” Alabama Department of Corrections commissioner Jeff Dunn said after Brooks’ death.

After administration of the sedative, the state protocol calls for the injection of rocuronium bromide, which paralyzes the muscles. The inmate next receives potassium chloride, to stop the heart. The drugs are administered from a room outside the execution chamber. Under state law, Holman warden Carter Davenport administers the lethal injection.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the use of midazolam in executions in a 5-4 decision. Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito said three Oklahoma inmates challenging its use had failed to prove it violated the U.S. Constitution’s prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment. The court also ruled that the condemned had to suggest a more humane method of execution available to officials.

Brooks was moved to a holding cell on Tuesday in advance of the execution. He was given a breakfast of grits, biscuits, sausage, jelly and cheese at 6:10 a.m. Thursday, but did not eat it. Brooks saw friends and attorneys until 4:15 p.m. Thursday, according to Corrections officials. For his final meal, Brooks requested two peanut butter cups and a Dr. Pepper.

There are 186 inmates on Alabama’s death row. Five have challenged the use of midazolam, saying it would not render them unconscious in time to avoid the pain from the other two drugs, which would be a violation of the Eighth Amendment’s protections against “cruel and unusual punishment.” The inmates also questioned whether Corrections officials consistently administer a consciousness test before administering the lethal drugs. Brooks filed a motion to join the case in November, and later to stay his execution.

“Midazolam will not anesthetize Brooks, and regardless of the dose, will not eliminate the risk that a condemned inmate will experience pain from the paralytic or potassium chloride,” his brief said.

A district court allowed Brooks to join the lawsuit, known as the “Midazolam Litigation,” but refused to grant a stay. A federal appeals court Tuesday refused to intervene, upholding the district judge’s ruling that Brooks had not offered an alternative means of execution available to the Alabama Department of Corrections. The court also upheld the district court’s ruling that Brooks had run out of time to intervene in the case.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied Brooks’ requests for a stay of execution Thursday evening. The majority did not explain its reasons. Justice Stephen Breyer wrote a brief dissent, saying the methods by which Brooks was sentenced resembled Florida’s capital sentences, which the high court voted to strike down earlier this month in a case titled Hurst v. Florida.

“The unfairness inherent in treating this case differently from others which used similarly unconstitutional procedures only underscores the need to reconsider the validity of capital punishment under the Eighth Amendment,” Breyer wrote.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, wrote a separate concurrence in the denial. Sotomayor wrote that “procedural obstacles” prevented the court from granting the stay, but added that the majority’s decision to deny the ruling was based on two cases that Hurst overturned. The execution did not begin until the Supreme Court’s ruling arrived, Dunn said.

The long pause between executions in Alabama was unusual, but not unprecedented. The state resumed executions in 1983, but did not schedule any for almost three years, following the gruesome death of John Evans in the electric chair on April 22, 1983. There was a 2 1/2-year gap in executions in the state between 1992 and 1995.

Campbell’s family asked the public to remember their daughter and sister and the way she lived her life.

“Although Jo Deann only had 23 years with us on Earth, she had an impact on so many lives and was loved by so many, including those who never had the opportunity to meet her,” said her sister, Fran Romano, in a statement.

Corinne Campbell asked that her sister’s “loveable memory and intense integrity never be forgotten.”

“She was the victim who in no way deserved her untimely horrific fate on this earth,” Corinne Campbell said in a statement. “Her last act was none other than helping someone else. And I am not surprised. She did that continually, as it was her friendly, kind-hearted nature.”

https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/politics/southunionstreet/2016/01/21/christopher-brooks-executed-1992-rape-and-murder/79119540/

Torrey McNabb Alabama Execution

Torrey McNabb was executed by the State of Alabama for the murder of a police officer. According to court documents Torrey McNabb was fleeing from a bail bondsman when he caused a traffic accident. When Officer Anderson Gordon showed up at the scene to investigate he was shot five times as he sat inside of his patrol car. Torrey McNabb would be executed by lethal injection on October 19, 2017

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A convicted cop killer who sued Alabama over its lethal injection method was put to death, but not before he cursed at the state and said: “I hate you.”

As the procedure began Thursday night, Torrey Twane McNabb, 40, raised both of his middle fingers in a show of defiance. McNabb’s attorneys had unsuccessfully sought to stop the execution since he was one of several inmates in an ongoing lawsuit challenging the humaneness of the state’s lethal injection procedure.

McNabb was convicted of killing Montgomery police officer Anderson Gordon in 1997. He shot Gordon five times as the officer sat in his patrol car after arriving at a traffic accident McNabb caused while fleeing a bail bondsman, prosecutors said.

Gordon’s relatives said in a statement that the 30-year-old officer — known as “Brother” — was devoted to his family, his two children and his work as a police officer.

“Over 20 years ago, we lost a companion, a father, a brother and friend who only wanted to make a difference in his community,” the statement read. “Although, the wounds of having a family member murdered can never be healed, through this tragedy, the Gordon family has remained strong and will continue to be resilient.”

The inmates in the lawsuit have argued that the sedative midazolam does not reliably render a person unconscious before subsequent drugs stop their lungs and heart. They point to an execution last December during which an Alabama inmate coughed and heaved for the first 13 minutes of the procedure.

McNabb appeared to be breathing for the first 20 minutes of the 35-minute long procedure. He later appeared to move his head, grimace and raise his arms after two consciousness checks in which a guard pinches his arm, says his name and pulls back his eyelid — before eventually becoming still.

His family members and attorneys who witnessed the execution expressed repeated concerns to each other that he was still conscious during the lethal injection. “He’s going to wake up,” one of McNabb’s family members whispered.

He was pronounced dead at 9:38 p.m. CDT, authorities said.

Alabama Commissioner Jeff Dunn said he was confident the movements after the second consciousness check were involuntary and that McNabb was not awake.

A lawyer for McNabb argued that it would be wrong to carry out the execution while proceedings continue in McNabb’s lawsuit.

The state argued that the inmates are unlikely to prevail in their claims since the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed other executions, including four in Alabama, to proceed using midazolam. The attorney general’s office argued McNabb had presented nothing new to justify a stay.

The U.S. Supreme Court delayed the execution for more than two hours to consider McNabb’s request for a stay, but ruled that the execution could go forward

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/lethal-injection/torrey-twane-mcnabb-alabama-inmate-defiant-his-execution-n812501

Robert Melson Alabama Execution

Robert Melson was executed by the State of Alabama for a triple murder. According to court documents Robert Melson would attempt to rob a Popeye’s Restaurant and in the process would shoot and kill three workers. Robert Melson would be executed by lethal injection on June 8 2017

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A man convicted of killing three people during the 1994 robbery of an Alabama fast-food restaurant was put to death Thursday by lethal injection.

Robert Melson, 46, was pronounced dead at 10:27 p.m. CDT Thursday at a southwest Alabama prison, authorities said. The execution was the state’s second of the year.

State prosecutors said Melson and another man who used to work at the restaurant, robbed a Popeye’s in Gadsden, 60 miles (96 kilometers) northeast of Birmingham. They said Melson opened fire on four employees in the restaurant’s freezer. Nathaniel Baker, Tamika Collins and Darrell Collier were killed.

The surviving employee, Bryant Archer, crawled for help and was able to identify one of the robbers as the former worker. While he could not identify Melson, prosecutors said Melson told police he had been with the former employee that night. A shoeprint behind the store matched Melson’s shoes, they said.

Melson’s attorneys had filed a flurry of last-minute appeals seeking to stay the execution. The filings centered on Alabama’s use of the sedative midazolam which some states have turned to as other lethal injection drugs became difficult to obtain.

Midazolam is supposed to prevent inmates from feeling pain before other drugs are given to stop their lungs and heart, but several executions in which inmates lurched or coughed have raised questions about its use. An inmate in Alabama coughed and heaved for the first 13 minutes of an execution held in December.

Melson’s attorney argued that midazolam does not anesthetize an inmate, but they might look still, because a second drug, a paralytic, prevents them from moving.

Alabama’s execution protocol is an illusion. It creates the illusion of a peaceful death when in truth, it is anything but,” Melson’s attorneys wrote in the filing to the Alabama Supreme Court.

The Alabama attorney general’s office argued midazolam’s use has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court and it has allowed multiple executions to proceed using the drug, including the execution of an Alabama inmate last month.

“The State, the victims’ families, and the surviving victim in this case have waited long enough for justice to be delivered,” the attorney general’s office wrote in a court filing as they urged the courts to let the execution proceed.

https://www.gadsdentimes.com/news/20170608/melson-executed

Thomas Arthur Alabama Execution

Thomas Arthur was executed by the State of Alabama for the murder of Troy Wicker in 1982. According to court documents Thomas Arthur would break into the home of Troy Wicker and fatally shoot the victim, Arthur was paid to murder Wicker. Thomas Arthur had already served a prison sentence for murder. Thomas Arthur would be executed by lethal injection on May 25, 2017

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Thomas Arthur, who had escaped execution seven times in the past, was put to death for the 1982 killing of Troy Wicker. He was pronounced dead at 12:15 a.m. Friday, according to Alabama Department of Corrections spokesman Bob Horton.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied a stay of execution at 10:45 p.m. Thursday, an hour and fifteen minutes before Arthur’s death warrant was set to expire.

ADOC Commissioner Jeff Dunn said Arthur made the following statement before being put to death: I am sorry I failed you as a father. I love you more than anything on earth.

Media witnesses said Arthur’s oldest daughter, Sherrie Stone, was present for the execution. They also reported that there appeared to be no complications as Arthur was being put to death.

Shortly after his execution, Stone spoke on her father’s life and death at an Atmore Holiday Inn Express.

“First of all, I would like to express my deepest sympathy for the family of Troy Wicker. I hope what has transpired today will allow them to have some peace and closure. I’ve never known for certain whether my father killed Troy Wicker,” Stone said.

“At times I was convinced he did. At times I believed he was innocent. Over decades you go through a roller coaster. Now I’ll never know the truth because the evidence that could prove if my father was innocent or guilty has not been tested using the latest DNA testing procedure.”

Arthur’s attorneys had earlier called for DNA testing that could implicate another person in the crime.

Gov. Kay Ivey on Thursday denied Arthur’s request for testing, saying that hair samples found at the scene that Arthur wanted tested were presented to the juries that heard Arthur’s conviction, “all of whom convicted Arthur of capital murder beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Stone went on to call for mandator DNA testing on all available evidence on all capital cases across the United States.

SCOTUS reviews a petition filed by Arthur’s attorneys asking that they have access to a cellphone while witnessing his execution.

“Deprived of access to a telephone, Arthur will be unable to seek legal redress if during the execution process, Alabama begins to subject him to cruel and unusual punishment. Arthur’s right of access to the courts will have been thwarted,” the petition reads.

U.S. District Judge Keith Watkins had previously denied the request on April 12, then the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld that decision. The Alabama attorney general’s office argued in a brief Thursday that Arthur was just trying to delay his execution and had not filed the request in time

“It is clear that, had he so desired, Arthur could have brought this claim in a more timely fashion,” the brief said. “Because he did not, this court should protect the state’s enforcement of its criminal rules and procedures.”

Arthur had separately petitioned for a stay on the basis that the state’s method of execution would cause him cruel and unusual pain.

Multiple death row inmates have filed suit over the state’s use of the sedative midazolam, arguing that it does not properly render a person unconscious before administering the second and third drugs, allowing for cruel and unusual pain in violation of the Eighth Amendment.

In December, witnesses said death row inmate Ronald Smith writhed and coughed for the first 13 minutes of his execution after being injected with Midazolam; his attorneys called the execution botched.

Arthur’s attorneys cited Smith’s execution as a reason why they should be allowed access to a phone as they witness his execution.

“(Smith’s) counsel were powerless to do anything — having been barred from having access to a phone, they had no way to access the courts,” his petition reads.

Sonia Sotomayor was the lone justice to dissent from the court’s decision not to halt the execution.

“Alabama plans to execute Thomas Arthur (Thursday night) using a three-drug lethal-injection protocol that uses midazolam as a sedative. I continue to doubt whether midazolam is capable of rendering prisoners insensate to the excruciating pain of lethal injection and thus whether midazolam may be constitutionally used in lethal injection protocols,” she wrote.

The Supreme Court held in Glossip v. Gross that if death row inmates wished to not be executed with midazolam, they have to suggest an alternate way to die that is readily available.

Arthur has asked for death by firing squad or by a different assimilation of drugs. ADOC has successfully proved through litigation that neither of these alternatives are readily available.

He was sentenced to death in 1991 after asking a jury to give him capital punishment. Arthur reasoned that it would give him more time to successfully appeal his case.

“If I was permitted, I’d shake your hands,” he told them. In a recent interview with the Associated Press, with his scheduled execution days away, Arthur’s tone had changed.

“They are going to kill me this time,” he said.

Arthur, 75, most recently escaped death Nov. 3, winning a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court after his attorneys filed an appeal challenging the state’s method of execution.

His 1991 death sentence came after he was convicted for the third time of Wicker’s murder-for-hire. He had been found guilty twice before but both convictions were overturned.

It was Arthur’s second murder conviction. He was in prison for the 1977 murder of his sister-in-law. He was participating in a work release program, the court found, when Arthur disguised himself as a black man, broke into Wicker’s home, and shot him in his bed.

Arthur maintains that he didn’t kill Wicker. His attorneys say that no physical evidence links Arthur to the scene and that a key witness testified against him to win early release.

He also had an appeal pending in the Alabama Supreme Court which questioned whether the Alabama legislature improperly delegated authority over execution methods to the Alabama Department of Corrections, but that appeal was denied.

Despite the dwindling options of recourse left for him in the time leading up to his execution, Arthur remained determined to fight his sentence.

“I won’t give up ‘til I draw my last breath,” he told the AP. “I won’t give up.”

The Office of the Alabama Attorney General wrote in its responses to Arthur’s petitions that Arthur had spent the last two decades abusing the justice system.

“The prior seven execution dates were stayed as a result of Arthur’s long-term manipulation of the federal and state courts through civil litigation and successive collateral attacks. In the most notable instance, Arthur received a reprieve based on the presentation of perjured testimony,” the response read.

Horton said Arthur refused his breakfast and final meal. He has not had visitors, though he has spoken with attorneys and some of his children in the past 24 hours.

He requested to have a photo of his children in the execution chamber, which ADOC officials said he was allowed.

Arthur’s execution was the first carried out in the state this year. Two were carried out in 2016 — Christopher Brooks in January and Ronald Smith in December.

Before Brooks, the state didn’t carry out an execution for 21/2 years.

Executions halted due to a shortage of drugs used in executions, particularly the sedatives meant to render the condemned inmate unconscious before the injection of the fatal chemicals. Legal challenges to lethal injection also slowed the execution process.

https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/2017/05/25/thomas-arthur-executed-thursday-evening/345627001/