death penalty

Proposed Bill Would Speed up the Death Penalty Process

Alabama Lieutenant Governor Will Ainsworth is making a push to reduce the time it takes for a death row inmate to be put to death. The proposed bill would make three main provisions to the current system to make it happen. “This Bill has been designed to proved both equal justice to inmates, and swift justice to their victims,” says…

Alabama Won’t Release Contract Related to Executions

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) – The Alabama attorney general’s office says it will not release to the news media a copy of a contract related to death penalty litigation. The attorney general’s office on Tuesday cited security reasons for refusing a records request from The Associated Press for a copy of a $25,000 contract with a Tennessee firm specializing in occupational…

South Carolina Man Convicted of Killing 5 Children

A South Carolina man has been convicted of killing his five children and burying them in Wilcox County. Dallas County District Attorney Michael Jackson confirmed the conviction of 37-year old Timothy Jones, Jr. He had been on trial in South Carolina since April. In 2014, Jones killed his five children in Lexington, South Carolina, drove with them in his car…

Execution for Murder of Selma Teen Cleared to Proceed

From the West Alabama Newsroom– The U.S. Supreme Court has now cleared the way for the execution of state inmate Dominique Ray. Ray was sentenced to the death penalty after a Dallas County jury convicted him of capital murder in the death of 15 year old Tiffany Harville back in 1995. Ray, who is a Muslim, was due to be…

8 Alabama Inmates Ask for Execution by Nitrogen Gas

A lawsuit challenging Alabama’s lethal injection process has taken an unexpected turn after eight inmate plaintiffs asked to be put to death by the state’s new execution method: inhaling nitrogen gas. The Alabama attorney general’s office and lawyers for inmates submitted a joint motion Tuesday to dismiss the litigation. Lawyers said the inmates’ claims are moot, “because their executions will…

Walter Moody’s Appeal Rejected By Federal Appeals Court

Moody's Scheduled To Be Put to Death on Thursday

A federal appeals court has rejected a death row inmate’s argument that he must serve out his federal sentence before Alabama can put him to death for the 1989 killing of a federal judge. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday ruled that Walter Leroy Moody does not have a right to demand that he serve his federal…

Alabama Court Overturns Death Sentence

An Alabama appeals court has overturned the death sentence of a man convicted of killing a school teacher in 2011. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals on Friday reversed the death sentence that 29-year-old Jovon Dwayne Gaston received for his capital murder conviction in the killing of Calhoun County teacher Kevin Thompson. Another man also was sentenced to death in…

Alabama Executes Man Convicted of 2000 Murder

Alabama has executed a man who killed his employer at a traveling carnival decades ago and later dropped appeals and asked for the death sentence to be carried out. Authorities say 50-year-old Michael Wayne Eggers was pronounced dead at 7:29 p.m. CDT Thursday after an injection at the state prison in Atmore. Eggers was sentenced to death for his conviction…

Alabama House Committee Approves Nitrogen Execution

Alabama moved closer to allowing death row inmates to be executed with nitrogen gas, a method that has never been used to execute someone. The House Judiciary Committee approved the bill Wednesday. It now moves to the full House of Representatives for a possible floor vote. The bill by Sen. Trip Pittman would allow execution by nitrogen hypoxia if lethal…

Alabama Death Row Inmate Put to Death

An Alabama inmate who challenged execution drug as cruel is put to death for killing police officer in 1997. Earlier tonight the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the stay of execution for 40-year-old Torrey McNabb. McNabb was pronounced dead at 9:38 p.m. Thursday. McNabb used his last statement to tell his mother and sister that he was unafraid and he cursed…