Alabama Sets February Execution Date for Man in 1991 Killing

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) – The state of Alabama has set a February execution date for a man convicting of the 1991 slaying of a woman abducted and shot in a cemetery.

The Alabama Supreme Court ordered that 51-year-old Willie B. Smith III be put to death on Feb. 11 in the shotgun slaying of Sharma Ruth Johnson.

Prosecutors said Smith abducted Johnson in October 1991 as she waited to use an ATM machine in Birmingham, he withdrew money using her bank card, and then took her to a cemetery where he shot her in the head. A jury convicted Smith in 1992.

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