Alabama

Governor Kay Ivey, Republican

Overview

Alabama has always been an active death penal­ty state, ranked 7th in num­ber of exe­cu­tions in the mod­ern death penal­ty era, and has a long his­to­ry of racial vio­lence and lynch­ing before exe­cu­tions became legal. Alabama is one of only two states that still allow non-unan­i­mous death sen­tences — just 10 out of 12 votes are required to impose a sen­tence of death. Until 2017, Alabama also per­mit­ted judi­cial over­ride, which allowed the tri­al judge to over­ride the cap­i­tal jury’s sen­tenc­ing rec­om­men­da­tion. The vast major­i­ty of judi­cial over­ride cas­es (101 of 112) result­ed in the impo­si­tion of a death sen­tence over the jury’s rec­om­men­da­tion of life. In decid­ing to abol­ish the prac­tice, the leg­is­la­ture chose not to make the law retroac­tive, thus offer­ing no relief to the 20 per­cent of death-sen­tenced indi­vid­u­als at the time whose juries had rec­om­mend­ed life sen­tences for them. 

Alabama autho­rizes three meth­ods of exe­cu­tion: lethal injec­tion, elec­tro­cu­tion, and nitro­gen gas. All meth­ods have result­ed in notable botch­es. From 1927 to 2002, Alabama’s elec­tric chair caused flames to spark from the chair dur­ing exe­cu­tions. Alabama’s 2022 exe­cu­tion of Joe James by lethal injec­tion holds the record for longest botched exe­cu­tion in the U.S., last­ing three hours. After three botched lethal injec­tion exe­cu­tion attempts in 2022, Alabama added nitro­gen gas as a method, and was the first state to use it, in the exe­cu­tion of Kenneth Smith on January 25, 2024. Supporters promised that the method would be pain­less and quick, but oppo­nents char­ac­ter­ized it as ​“human exper­i­men­ta­tion.” Witnesses to nitro­gen gas exe­cu­tions report­ed see­ing pris­on­ers shake and writhe, not­ing that pris­on­ers appeared to be in pain and dis­tress. In June 2026, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a fed­er­al dis­trict court rul­ing that Alabama’s nitro­gen gas pro­to­col vio­lat­ed the Eighth Amendment’s pro­hi­bi­tion on cru­el and unusu­al pun­ish­ment. Execution by nitro­gen gas ulti­mate­ly results in death by suf­fo­ca­tion when an indi­vid­ual breathes pure nitro­gen, depriv­ing the body and vital organs of oxygen. 

The Alabama Department of Corrections has main­tained that its exe­cu­tion pro­to­col is con­fi­den­tial and out­side the purview of a pub­lic records request. In 2019, in response to a suit brought by media rep­re­sen­ta­tives, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit required Alabama to pub­licly dis­close crit­i­cal com­po­nents of its exe­cu­tion pro­to­col. The por­tions of pro­to­col address­ing exe­cu­tion pro­ce­dures for lethal injec­tion and nitro­gen gas are heavily redacted. 

Quick Facts

Yes
160
83
708
2
7

State-by-State Issues in Context

50% The per­cent­age of peo­ple sen­tenced to death who are Black, as of 2025.
75% The per­cent­age of cas­es where a judge over­rode a jury’slife sen­tenc­ing rec­om­men­da­tion that involved a white victim.
82% The per­cent­age of peo­ple exe­cut­ed as of 2025, whose cas­es involved a white victim.
  • Overview
  • 1812
  • 1927
  • 1932
  • 1972
  • 1976
  • 1983
  • 2002
  • March 2011
  • May 2011
  • 2012
  • 2013
  • 2017
  • February 2018
  • March 2018
  • 2019
  • July 2022
  • November 2022
  • 2023
Alabama’s Death Penalty Timeline
Overview

View Alabama’s his­to­ry with the death penal­ty. This time­line details some of its most con­se­quen­tial moments. Swipe to learn more. 

Alabama’s Death Penalty Timeline
1812

Eli Norman is hung for mur­der, mark­ing the first known legal exe­cu­tion in Alabama.

Alabama’s Death Penalty Timeline
1927

Alabama replaces hang­ing with elec­tro­cu­tion as its method of execution.

Alabama’s Death Penalty Timeline
1932

The U.S. Supreme Court in Powell v. Alabama rec­og­nizes the Sixth Amendment right to coun­sel in capital cases.

Alabama’s Death Penalty Timeline
1972

The U.S. Supreme Court inval­i­dates the death penal­ty in Furman v. Georgia.

Alabama’s Death Penalty Timeline
1976

The Alabama leg­is­la­ture pass­es a new death penal­ty statute the same year the U.S. Supreme Court reau­tho­rizes use of the death penal­ty in Gregg v. Georgia.

Alabama’s Death Penalty Timeline
1983

John Evans III is the first per­son exe­cut­ed in Alabama after Gregg. He was exe­cut­ed in an elec­tric chair nick­named ​“Yellow Mama” that was con­struct­ed by a pris­on­er in 1927. Eyewitnesses report­ed that flames sparked from his chair, behind his mask, and his knee dur­ing the ini­tial attempt at exe­cu­tion, after which doc­tors had still found a heart­beat. Executioners had to send two more cur­rents to kill Mr. Evans. His attor­ney said, ​“He was burned alive.”

Alabama’s Death Penalty Timeline
2002

Lynda Lyon Block is exe­cut­ed, the last per­son to be exe­cut­ed by elec­tric chair in the state. While lethal injec­tion became the state’s default exe­cu­tion method, Alabama con­tin­ues to allow pris­on­ers to elect electrocution.

Alabama’s Death Penalty Timeline
March 2011

Courtney Lockhart, an Iraqi vet­er­an, is the last indi­vid­ual to have a death sen­tence imposed by a judge before the law was changed to pro­hib­it judi­cial over­ride. He had received a unan­i­mous life sen­tenced rec­om­men­da­tion from his jury.

Alabama’s Death Penalty Timeline
May 2011

Alabama exe­cutes Jason Williams using an undis­closed com­bi­na­tion of drugs after the DEA seized its sup­ply of sodi­um thiopen­tal, one of three drugs used in used in Alabama’s lethal injection protocol.

Alabama’s Death Penalty Timeline
2012

The U.S. Supreme Court holds that manda­to­ry life with­out parole sen­tences for chil­dren 17 or younger con­vict­ed of homi­cide are uncon­sti­tu­tion­al in Miller v. Alabama and its com­pan­ion case, Jackson v. Hobbs.

Alabama’s Death Penalty Timeline
2013

The Alabama House of Representatives votes unan­i­mous­ly on a bill to posthu­mous­ly par­don the ​“Scottsboro Boys.” In 1931, the nine Black teenagers were wrong­ful­ly con­vict­ed for the rape of two white women. Eight of them were sen­tenced to death. 

Alabama’s Death Penalty Timeline
2017

Governor Kay Ivey signs SB 16 into law, end­ing judi­cial over­ride in future cap­i­tal cas­es. Governor Ivey also signs into law the ​“Fair Justice Act,” designed to short­en the state death-penal­­ty appeals process. The law restricts the amount of time death-sen­tenced pris­on­ers are per­mit­ted to file appeals, impos­es time lim­its for judges to rule on appeals, and requires pris­on­ers to pur­sue their direct appeal and post-con­vic­­tion appeal simul­ta­ne­ous­ly, includ­ing poten­tial­ly rais­ing claims of appel­late coun­sel’s inef­fec­tive­ness while appel­late coun­sel is still han­dling the appeal. 

Alabama’s Death Penalty Timeline
February 2018

Alabama offi­cials botch the attempt­ed exe­cu­tion of Doyle Hamm, a ter­mi­nal­ly ill death-sen­tenced pris­on­er. The exe­cu­tion team spends near­ly two and a half hours attempt­ing to insert an IV to admin­is­ter the lethal injec­tion drugs, punc­tur­ing Mr. Hamm’s blad­der and femoral artery, result­ing in severe bleed­ing. The exe­cu­tion was called off after the cor­rec­tions com­mis­sion­er stat­ed that prison per­son­nel did not have ​“suf­fi­cient time” to find a suit­able vein before the death warrant expired.

Alabama’s Death Penalty Timeline
March 2018

The Alabama leg­is­la­ture autho­rizes the use of nitro­gen gas­ as a method of execution. 

Alabama’s Death Penalty Timeline
2019

A ­unan­i­mous deci­sion from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit requires that Alabama offi­cials pub­licly dis­close crit­i­cal com­po­nents of its high­ly secre­tive lethal injec­tion exe­cu­tion pro­ce­dure. The rul­ing comes after the Associated Press, the Montgomery Advertiser, and Alabama Media Group sued for access to the pro­to­col, which came under intense scruti­ny in the wake of Alabama’s failed attempt to exe­cute Doyle Lee Hamm.

Alabama’s Death Penalty Timeline
July 2022

Alabama car­ries out the longest botched lethal injec­tion exe­cu­tion in U.S. his­to­ry, tak­ing three hours to exe­cute Joe James. 

Alabama’s Death Penalty Timeline
November 2022

Governor Kay Ivey tem­porar­i­ly halts all exe­cu­tions after a series of botched exe­cu­tions, includ­ing those of Kenneth Smith, Joe James, and Alan Miller. Governor Ivey calls for the Alabama Department of Corrections to car­ry out an inter­nal review of the state’s exe­cu­tion pro­to­col and pro­ce­dures. A report of the review was nev­er released to the pub­lic. Governor Ivey autho­rized the resump­tion of exe­cu­tions on February 24, 2023. 

Alabama’s Death Penalty Timeline
2023

The Alabama Supreme Court elim­i­nates auto­mat­ic plain error review for tri­al errors in death penal­ty cas­es on direct appeal.

  • Overview
  • The Scottsboro Boys
  • Charles Lee Bufford
  • Anthony Ray Hinton
  • Walter McMillian
  • Darrell B. Grayson
  • Dominique Ray
Notable Cases
Overview

Swipe to see some of Alabama’s most notable death penalty cases. 

Notable Cases
The Scottsboro Boys

In 1931, nine Black boys were arrest­ed and charged with rap­ing two white girls. Haywood Patterson, Olen Montgomery, Clarence Norris, Willie Roberson, Andy Wright, Ozzie Powell, Eugene Williams, Charley Weems, and Roy Wright were tried in Scottsboro, Alabama, and they became known as the Scottsboro Boys. All-white juries quick­ly sen­tenced eight of the boys to death. In Powell v. Alabama (1932), the U.S. Supreme Court ordered new tri­als for the teenagers after find­ing a con­sti­tu­tion­al right to the assis­tance of coun­sel in cap­i­tal cas­es. After numer­ous retri­als, only one of the boys was resen­tenced to death; his sen­tence was lat­er com­mut­ed to life in prison. One of the accusers lat­er recant­ed her tes­ti­mo­ny and denied that she and her com­pan­ion had been raped. In 2013, The Alabama House of Representatives vot­ed unan­i­mous­ly to posthu­mous­ly par­don the Scottsboro Boys. They spent decades in prison before being released. 

Notable Cases
Charles Lee Bufford

Charles Lee Bufford was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death in 1978 for the rob­bery-mur­der of for­mer state sen­a­tor and Wilcox County pro­bate judge Roland Cooper. Mr. Bufford, who was serv­ing a short sen­tence in the coun­ty jail for auto theft, was work­ing on the Cooper res­i­dence through an unof­fi­cial work release pol­i­cy that allowed for pri­vate cit­i­zens to ​“check out” pris­on­ers for the pur­pose of man­u­al labor. After his con­vic­tion, Mr. Bufford was grant­ed a new tri­al. Upon retri­al, the defense ques­tioned a police offi­cer about the destruc­tion of a hand­writ­ten ver­sion of Mr. Bufford’s state­ment and argued that key por­tions of the state­ment had been left out. After two-hours of delib­er­a­tion, a Wilcox County jury acquit­ted Mr. Bufford of all charges on November 12, 1981, and he was released. 

Notable Cases
Anthony Ray Hinton

Anthony Ray Hinton was con­vict­ed of the 1985 mur­ders of two fast-food restau­rant man­agers based upon the tes­ti­mo­ny of a state foren­sic exam­in­er that the bul­lets in the two mur­ders came from a gun found in Mr. Hinton’s house. Mr. Hinton was sen­tenced to death after a 10 – 2 rec­om­men­da­tion for death by the jury. Mr. Hinton was arrest­ed after a vic­tim in a sim­i­lar crime iden­ti­fied him in a pho­to line­up, even though Mr. Hinton had been work­ing in a locked ware­house 15 miles away when that crime was com­mit­ted. Mr. Hinton’s lawyer did not know the law and mis­tak­en­ly believed that fund­ing to hire a qual­i­fied firearms expert was not avail­able. Instead, he hired an expert he knew to be inad­e­quate, and as a result failed to present any cred­i­ble evi­dence to rebut the state’s claim that the bul­lets were fired from Mr. Hinton’s gun. In 2002, three top firearms exam­in­ers tes­ti­fied that the bul­lets could not be matched to Mr. Hinton’s gun and may not even have come from the same gun. The U.S. Supreme Court unan­i­mous­ly held that Mr. Hinton had received effec­tive assis­tance of coun­sel and returned his case to the state courts for fur­ther pro­ceed­ings. Prosecutors decid­ed not to retry him after the state’s new experts said they could not link the bul­lets to Mr. Hinton’s gun. Anthony Ray Hinton was released from prison in 2018 and is now an activist. In 2018, he pub­lished his mem­oir, The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row. 

Notable Cases
Walter McMillian

Walter McMillian, a Black man, was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death in 1988 for the mur­der of a young white woman who worked as a clerk in a dry-clean­ing store in Monroeville, Alabama. His tri­al last­ed only a day and a half. Multiple ali­bi wit­ness­es tes­ti­fied that Mr. McMillian was at a church fish fry at the time of the crime. The jury rec­om­mend­ed life with­out parole, but the tri­al judge over­rode the jury’s rec­om­men­da­tion and sen­tenced Mr. McMillian to death. The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) rep­re­sent­ed Mr. McMillian on appeal, argu­ing the State’s wit­ness­es had lied on the stand and the pros­e­cu­tion had ille­gal­ly sup­pressed excul­pa­to­ry evi­dence. Mr. McMillian’s con­vic­tion was over­turned in 1993, and he was released after pros­e­cu­tors agreed to drop charges. 

Notable Cases
Darrell B. Grayson

Darrell B. Grayson, a Black man, was con­vict­ed in 1981 by an all-white jury for the mur­der of a white woman. Twenty years lat­er, the Innocence Project sought DNA test­ing in the case, say­ing that test­ing not avail­able at the time of Mr. Grayson’s orig­i­nal tri­al might prove him inno­cent. Requests for new test­ing were denied, and Mr. Grayson was exe­cut­ed on July 26, 2007. 

Notable Cases
Dominique Ray

Dominique Ray was exe­cut­ed February 2, 2019, with­out his cho­sen reli­gious advi­sor present. Alabama’s exe­cu­tion pro­to­col man­dat­ed that the prison chap­lain — and no oth­er reli­gious advis­er — be present in the exe­cu­tion cham­ber, but the state employed only Christian chap­lains. Mr. Ray, who was Muslim, request­ed that an imam be allowed in the exe­cu­tion cham­ber. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ini­tial­ly stayed his exe­cu­tion, but in a 5 – 4 deci­sion, the U.S. Supreme Court lift­ed this stay and allowed Mr. Ray’s exe­cu­tion to pro­ceed with­out address­ing the con­sti­tu­tion­al con­cerns at issue, cit­ing the untime­li­ness of his claim. 

  • Overview
  • John Evans
  • Doyle Lee Hamm
  • Joe James
  • Torrey McNabb
  • Anthony Boyd
Notable Botched Executions
Overview

Alabama exe­cu­tions have often had prob­lems, and some have been botched. Swipe to view some notable cas­es. To learn more about these cas­es and about botched exe­cu­tions in gen­er­al, vis­it Botched Executions. 

Notable Botched Executions
John Evans

On April 22, 1983, Alabama exe­cut­ed John Evans using an elec­tric chair. After the first jolt of elec­tric­i­ty, sparks and flames erupt­ed from the elec­trode attached to Mr. Evans’s leg. The elec­trode burst from the strap hold­ing it in place and caught on fire. Smoke and sparks were also observed in the vicin­i­ty of Mr. Evans’s left tem­ple. Two physi­cians entered the cham­ber and found that Mr. Evans still had a heart­beat. After two more jolts of elec­tric­i­ty were admin­is­tered, he was declared dead 14 minutes later. 

Notable Botched Executions
Doyle Lee Hamm

On February 22, 2018, Alabama botched the attempt­ed exe­cu­tion of Doyle Lee Hamm. Mr. Hamm’s coun­sel warned the state that it would be impos­si­ble to find a vein for lethal injec­tion because he suf­fered from advanced lym­phat­ic can­cer and car­ci­no­ma. For 2.5 hours, the exe­cu­tion­ers tried to find a vein, leav­ing Mr. Hamm with mul­ti­ple punc­ture wounds, includ­ing six in his groin and oth­ers that punc­tured his blad­der and pen­e­trat­ed his femoral artery. The exe­cu­tion was called off as the attempt approached a midnight deadline. 

Notable Botched Executions
Joe James

On July 28, 2022, Alabama exe­cut­ed Joe James, the longest botched lethal injec­tion exe­cu­tion since the method was intro­duced in the US in 1982, with a total esti­mat­ed time of 3 to 3 ½ hours. His autop­sy revealed a ​“lengthy and painful” exe­cu­tion, not­ing unex­plained punc­ture wounds, bleed­ing, and bruis­ing. A doc­tor who attend­ed the exe­cu­tion said that the prison staff who car­ried out the exe­cu­tion was ​“unqual­i­fied for the task in the most dramatic way.” 

Notable Botched Executions
Torrey McNabb

On October 19, 2017, Alabama exe­cut­ed Torrey McNabb using lethal injec­tion. It took thir­ty-five min­utes, with Mr. McNabb mov­ing and rolling his head back and forth after the drugs were admin­is­tered, indi­cat­ing that he may have remained conscious. 

Notable Botched Executions
Anthony Boyd

On October 23, 2025, Alabama exe­cut­ed Anthony Boyd, the eighth per­son in the U.S. exe­cut­ed using nitro­gen gas. His exe­cu­tion took more than 30 min­utes, dur­ing which Mr. Boyd repeat­ed­ly con­vulsed and heaved, gasp­ing for air 200 times. 

Resources

News & Developments

Methods of Execution June 11, 2026 Alabama Federal Judges Block State from Using Nitrogen Gas to Execute Jeffery Lee Arbitrariness June 4, 2026 Alabama Federal Judge Rules Nitrogen Gas Executions are Constitutional, Denying Stay for Jeffery Lee United States Supreme Court June 1, 2026 Supreme Court Roundup: Decisions Allow Jury Discrimination Claim to Proceed and Keep Protections for Intellectually Disabled in Place Legal Representation May 18, 2026 What to Know: DOJ Seeks to Fast-Track Appeals for Death-Sentenced Prisoners Through “Opt-In” Certification Process Without Considering Opposing Views Discrimination in Jury Selection March 17, 2026 U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Hear State’s Appeal in Michael Sockwell’s Case, Clearing Path for New Trial Clemency March 2, 2026 Alabama Governor Commutes Charles Burton's Death Sentence After Calls from Broad Coalition of Supporters Clemency February 2, 2026 Victim’s Daughter and Former Juror Oppose Execution of Alabama Man Who Officials Acknowledges Did Not Pull the Trigger Methods of Execution November 18, 2025 Facts About the Death Penalty – Is there a “Humane” Execution Method?
View More

Learn more about the Death Penalty in each state