Attorney Uses COVID-19 as a Reason to Delay Clients Execution

WAKA Action 8 News,

Posted: Jan 29, 2021 4:13 AM CST

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) – A lawyer for an Alabama inmate scheduled to be executed next month is asking the Alabama Supreme Court to delay the lethal injection because of COVID-19. Fifty-one-year-old Willie B. Smith is set to be executed by lethal injection on Feb. 11 at Holman Correctional Facility. He was convicted of the 1991 shotgun slaying of Sharma Ruth Johnson. His attorney wrote in a Wednesday petition to the Alabama Supreme Court that the execution could be a super-spreader event for COVID-19. His attorney also said it’s difficult to adequately prepare Smith’s clemency petition without in-person visits. Phone calls are allowed.