Tommy Arthur Executed for 1982 Muscle Shoals Murder

Alabama has put to death Tommy Arthur, the man who escaped seven prior execution dates for his conviction in a 1982 murder-for-hire. Officials say the 75-year-old inmate was pronounced dead at 12:15 a.m. CDT following a lethal injection at a southwest Alabama prison.

Arthur was convicted in the fatal shooting of Troy Wicker as he slept in his Muscle Shoals home. Wicker’s wife initially blamed an intruder, but later testified she promised Arthur $10,000 to kill her husband.

The execution follows years of appeals by Arthur questioning Alabama’s injection procedure and other issues.

Late Thursday, The U.S. Supreme Court said the execution could proceed. It had issued a temporary stay earlier in the day.

Arthur’s attorneys had filed two last-minute appeals to the court. One challenged the use of a drug in the state’s lethal injection protocol and the other called for a telephone in the death chamber so lawyers can call the court if something goes wrong.

Meanwhile, Arthur’s daughter says there should be mandatory DNA testing on crime scene evidence in capital cases before executions are carried out. Sherrie Stone made the statement at a news conference

Gov. Kay Ivey had refused a request from Arthur to do DNA testing on crime scene hair samples.

Stone said she vacillated through the years on whether she thought her father was guilty or innocent. Stone said this morning, “Now I will never know the truth.”

Ivey’s lawyer said jurors knew the hairs, because of their type, did not come from Arthur but convicted him anyway.

Stone also offered her sympathies to Wicker’s family.

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