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State And Federal Info

Alabama

History of the Death Penalty

Alabama’s first execution was carried out in 1812. From 1812 to 1927, the primary method of execution was hanging. In 1927, the electric chair, known as “Yellow Mama,” was introduced. Today, the primary method is lethal injection, although inmates convicted prior to 2002 can choose to be executed by electrocution or lethal injection.

Timeline

1812 – First known execution in Alabama, Eli Norman hung for murder.

1927 – Alabama replaces hanging with electrocution as its method of execution.

1972 – The Supreme Court strikes down the death penalty in Furman v. Georgia.

1976 – Alabama passes a law reinstating capital punishment. The Supreme Court soon after reinstates the death penalty when it upholds Georgia’s statute in Gregg v. Georgia.

1983 – John Evans III is the first person executed in Alabama after Gregg.

2002 – Alabama electrocutes Lynda Lyon Block, the last person to undergo that punishment involuntarily in the state. Alabama subsequently made lethal injection its default execution method, but continued to allow inmates to select electrocution.

Famous Cases

In 1931, nine black boys were charged with raping two white girls. They were tried in Scottsboro, Alabama, and became known as the Scottsboro Boys. All-white juries sentenced eight of the boys to death. The cases were heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in Powell v. Alabama (1932), the landmark case which guarantees the right to counsel in a capital trial. After numerous retrials, only one of the boys was sentenced to death, but his sentence was later commuted to life in prison.

Cornelius Singleton, an inmate with an IQ of 55, was executed November 20, 1992.

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

Holly Wood was executed September 9, 2010 despite evidence that he was intellectually disabled, and therefore exempt from execution. His lawyer did not present evidence of Wood’s low IQ during Wood’s original trial. A federal District Court overturned Wood’s sentence, but the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with the ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit that Wood failed to show that the lawyers were constitutionally ineffective.

Walter Moody was executed April 19, 2018. At 83 years old, Moody was the oldest person and only octogenarian put to death in the United States since executions resumed in 1977.

Dominique Ray was executed February 2, 2019 without his chosen religious advisor present. Alabama’s execution protocol mandated that a prison chaplain—and no other religious adviser—be present in the execution chamber, but the state employed only Christian chaplains. Ray, who was Muslim, requested that an imam be allowed in the execution chamber. In a contentious 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated a federal appeals court stay of execution and permitted Alabama to carry out the execution.

Notable Exonerations

Walter McMillian was sentenced to death in 1988 despite the jury’s recommendation for a life sentence. An investigation by 60 Minutes uncovered prosecutorial misconduct and perjury by witnessess. McMillan was released from prison in 1993.

Anthony Ray Hinton was exonerated in 2015 after having spent 30 years on death row. He was sentenced to death by the court in the 1985 murders of two fast-food restaurant managers, after a 10-2 recommendation of death by the jury. The prosecutor (who was white) had a documented history of racial bias, and claimed he could tell Hinton (who is black) was guilty and “evil” just by looking at him. Hinton was arrested after a victim in a similar crime erroneously identified him in a photo array, even though Hinton proved he was at work 15 miles away when that murder took place. The conviction was based in large part upon scientifically invalid testimony of a state forensic examiner that the bullets in the two murders came from a gun that was found in Hinton’s house. In 2002, three leading firearms examiners testified that the bullets used in the murders could not be matched to Hinton’s gun, and may not have come from a single gun at all. For the next thirteen years, Alabama nevertheless continued to oppose efforts to overturn his conviction and death sentence.

Milestones in Abolition/Reinstatement

Senator Hank Sanders has introduced a moratorium bill for the past 10 years. Representative Merika Coleman has introduced a moratorium bill for the past 5 years.

Other Interesting Facts

Until 2017, Alabama allowed the practice of judicial override, in which judges could override a jury’s sentencing recommendation even when the jury had recommended a life sentence. Alabama still allows a judge to impose a death sentence without a unanimous jury recommendation for death if at least 10 of 12 jurors recommend a death sentence.

From 1927-1976 there were 153 executions. Of those, 126 were African American, 27 were Caucasian. 3 were female.

Alabama is the only state whose anti-death penalty organization (Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty) was founded by death row inmates in 1989. The Chairman and Board are at Holman on death row.

The Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, scene of Civil Rights Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965.  Photo by Esther Brown.
The Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, scene of Civil Rights Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965. Photo by Esther Brown.

Resources

  • American Bar Association Alabama Death Penalty Assessment Report
  • Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty
  • Equal Justice Initiative
  • Deparment of Corrections
  • Alabama Dept. of Corrections list of inmates currently on death row
  • Prosecutors

Alabama Execution Totals Since 1976

News & Developments


Religion

Feb 13, 2023

Local Church Leaders Across Alabama Speak Out About State’s Death Penalty Process

In a let­ter to Governor Kay Ivey (pic­tured) of Alabama, over 170 local faith lead­ers from many denom­i­na­tions and tra­di­tions across the state asked her to com­mit to a ​“com­pre­hen­sive, inde­pen­dent, and exter­nal review of Alabama’s death penal­ty proce…

Local Church Leaders Across Alabama Speak Out About State’s Death Penalty Process

Representation

Jan 25, 2023

Alabama Court Removes Key Appeal Protection for Death Sentenced Defendants

The Alabama Supreme Court announced a change to its rules of appel­late pro­ce­dure on January 12, 2023, elim­i­nat­ing auto­mat­ic plain error review for tri­al errors in death penal­ty cas­es. This new rule removes a sig­nif­i­cant safe­guard for cap­i­tal defen…

Alabama Court Removes Key Appeal Protection for Death Sentenced Defendants

Botched Executions

Jan 18, 2023

Kenneth Smith Describes Alabama’s Failed Attempt to Execute Him

Alabama death-row pris­on­er Kenneth Smith spent four hours on November 17, 2022 strapped to an exe­cu­tion gur­ney while state pros­e­cu­tors attempt­ed to lift a stay of exe­cu­tion issued by a fed­er­al appeals court and hi…

Kenneth Smith Describes Alabama’s Failed Attempt to Execute Him

Botched Executions

Dec 15, 2022

Alabama Governor Asks State Supreme Court for More Time to Carry Out Executions

As part of her response to a series of botched exe­cu­tions, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey has sent a let­ter to the Alabama Supreme Court ask­ing it to allow the Department of Corrections to extend the time with­in which…

Alabama Governor Asks State Supreme Court for More Time to Carry Out Executions

Botched Executions

Dec 09, 2022

Alabama Attorney General: ​“There Is No Moratorium” On the Death Penalty

During a December 5, 2022 press con­fer­ence, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall (pic­tured) dis­cussed the state’s review of its lethal injec­tion process, reject­ing the media’s char­ac­ter­i­za­tion of it as a ​“mora­to­ri­um” on exe­cu­tions and urg­ing th…

Alabama Attorney General: "There Is No Moratorium" On the Death Penalty

History of the Death Penalty

Dec 07, 2022

As Lethal Injection Turns Forty, States Botch a Record Number of Executions

On December 7, 1982, Texas strapped Charles Brooks to a gur­ney, insert­ed an intra­venous line into his arm, and inject­ed a lethal dose of sodi­um thiopen­tal into his veins, launch­ing the lethal-injec­tion era of American exe­cu­tions. In the precisely …

As Lethal Injection Turns Forty, States Botch a Record Number of Executions

Botched Executions

Nov 30, 2022

Alabama Drops Lethal Injection for Alan Miller, But May Attempt Execution With Nitrogen Gas

Alabama offi­cials have agreed not to make a sec­ond attempt to exe­cute Alan Miller by lethal injec­tion after the state had to call off his September 22, 2022 exe­cu­tion because of the fail­ure to estab­lish an IV line…

Alabama Drops Lethal Injection for Alan Miller, But May Attempt Execution With Nitrogen Gas

Botched Executions

Nov 23, 2022

Alabama Governor Halts Executions After Latest in Series of Execution Failures

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey (pic­tured) has halt­ed exe­cu­tions and ordered a ​“top-to-bot­tom review” of the state’s exe­cu­tion pro­ce­dures, five days after fail­ures by cor­rec­tions per­son­nel to estab­lish an intra­venous exe­cu­tion line caus…

Alabama Governor Halts Executions After Latest in Series of Execution Failures

Botched Executions

Nov 18, 2022

After U.S. Supreme Court Overturns Lethal Injection Stay, Alabama Tries and Fails to Execute Kenneth Eugene Smith

Kenneth Eugene Smith’s November 17 exe­cu­tion was halt­ed after Alabama offi­cials spent an hour try­ing to set intra­venous lines for the lethal injec­tion drugs. Earlier that evening, Smith’s exe­cu­tion had been stayed…

After U.S. Supreme Court Overturns Lethal Injection Stay, Alabama Tries and Fails to Execute Kenneth Eugene Smith

Upcoming Executions

Nov 14, 2022

Week of Four Scheduled Executions Highlights Continued Concerns With the Use of the Death Penalty

The four exe­cu­tions sched­uled for the week of November 17th high­light cur­rent trends in exe­cu­tions and death sen­tenc­ing and the con­tin­ued use of the death penal­ty against vul­ner­a­ble pop­u­la­tions. The pris­on­ers sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed by four state…

Week of Four Scheduled Executions Highlights Continued Concerns With the Use of the Death Penalty
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View Information by State

Additional Information


  • Death Penalty: Yes
  • Number of Executions Since 1976: 70
  • Number of Executions Before 1976 (may include federal and military executions): 708
  • Current Death Row Population: 166
  • Women on Death Row: 5
  • Number of Innocent People Freed From Death Row: 7
  • Number of Clemencies Granted: 2
  • Date of Reinstatement (Following Furman v. Georgia): May 2, 1976
  • First Execution After Reinstatement: April 22, 1983
  • Location of Death Row: Holman Prison, Atmore (main), William E. Donaldson Prison near Birmingham (secondary), Tutwiler Prison (women)
  • Location of Executions: Holman Prison, Atmore
  • Capital: Montgomery
  • Region: South
  • Population: 5,024,279*
  • Murder Rate (per 100,000 population): 7.3
  • Is Life Without Parole an Option?: Yes
  • Can a defendant get death for a felony in which s/he was not responsible for the murder?: No
  • Method of Execution: Choice of Lethal Injection or Electrocution
  • How is Sentence Determined?: Judge can impose death if at least 10 jurors vote for death
  • Clemency Process: Governor has authority to grant clemency after considering recommendation of Board
  • Governor: Kay Ivey

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