Entries tagged with “Kay Ivey”

Methods of Execution

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Aug 03, 2026

Alabama Governor Sets New Execution Date for Jeffery Lee Using Lethal Injection, Following Blocked Efforts to Execute Him with Nitrogen Gas

On July 30, 2026, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey set a new exe­cu­tion date for Jeffery Lee after the state’s unsuc­cess­ful attempt to exe­cute him using nitro­gen gas in June. Gov. Ivey set Mr. Lee’s exe­cu­tion by lethal injec­tion for September 17, 2026, just over three months after an Alabama fed­er­al judge per­ma­nent­ly blocked the state from using its nitro­gen gas pro­to­col. This new exe­cu­tion date came after U.S. District Judge Emily Marks, the same judge who enjoined the state from…

Executions

Mar 16, 2026

The New York Times Editorial Board Condemns Secrecy, Arbitrariness of U.S. Death Penalty

The New York Times edi­to­r­i­al board pub­lished an arti­cle on March 13, 2026, con­demn­ing use of the death penal­ty in the coun­try as secre­tive, arbi­trary, and unjust. Relying heav­i­ly on research and data main­tained by the Death Penalty Information Center, the board describes the events of 2025, with its sharp increase in exe­cu­tions, as a​“dark new peri­od” in the nation’s his­to­ry. The board attrib­ut­es much of the surge to Florida, which alone car­ried out 19 executions in…

Upcoming Executions

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Mar 02, 2026

Alabama Governor Commutes Charles Burton’s Death Sentence After Calls from Broad Coalition of Supporters

**UPDATE:** On March 10, 2026, two days ahead of his sched­uled exe­cu­tion, Governor Kay Ivey grant­ed clemen­cy for Charles​“Sonny” Burton, com­mut­ing his death sen­tence to a sen­tence of life with­out parole. In a state­ment, Gov. Ivey said,​“I can­not pro­ceed in good con­science with the exe­cu­tion of Mr. Burton under such dis­parate cir­cum­stances. I believe it would be unjust for one par­tic­i­pant in this crime to be exe­cut­ed while the par­tic­i­pant who pulled the trigger…

Feb 02, 2026

Victim’s Daughter and Former Juror Oppose Execution of Alabama Man Who Officials Acknowledges Did Not Pull the Trigger

Two women inti­mate­ly con­nect­ed to a 1991 mur­der case in Alabama have pub­licly opposed the intend­ed exe­cu­tion of Charles​“Sonny” Burton, a man both the state and his attor­neys acknowl­edge did not fire the fatal shot. Priscilla Townsend, who served on the jury that sen­tenced Mr. Burton to death, and Tori Battle, whose father Doug Battle was killed dur­ing the rob­bery in ques­tion, have each writ­ten op-eds urg­ing Governor Kay Ivey to grant clemen­cy. On January 22, 2026, the…

Religion

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Victims' Families

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Sep 22, 2025

Victims’ Families in Kirk and Berry Cases Cite Religious Reasons for Opposition to the Death Penalty

Murder vic­tims’ fam­i­ly mem­bers hold a wide range of views about what jus­tice means. For some, the death penal­ty holds the promise of clo­sure, while for oth­ers, it is a source of con­tin­ued trau­ma and uncer­tain­ty. In two recent cas­es, vic­tims’ fam­i­ly mem­bers have pub­licly expressed their oppo­si­tion to the death penal­ty, cit­ing their reli­gious views and need to for­give. Will Berry was just 11 years old when Geoffrey West shot and killed his moth­er, Margaret Parrish…

Jul 31, 2025

Alabama Circuit Court Judge Stays Execution Because of Concerns with Prisoner’s Mental Competency

In a July 10, 2025, order, Marion County Alabama Circuit Court Judge Talmage Lee Carter issued a tem­po­rary stay of exe­cu­tion for David Lee Roberts because of con­cerns regard­ing his men­tal com­pe­ten­cy. Mr. Roberts was sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on August 21. Judge Carter’s order tasked the Alabama Department of Mental Health with deter­min­ing whether Mr. Roberts has a​“ratio­nal under­stand­ing” about why the state will exe­cute him. In his order, Judge Carter wrote, “\[t\]he issue…

Mar 03, 2025

Alabama Governor Grants Clemency to Robin ​‘Rocky’ Myers, Sparing Him from Execution

On February 28, 2025, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey com­mut­ed the death sen­tence of Robin​‘Rocky’ Dion Myers to Life Without Parole (LWOP). Myers was con­vict­ed in the 1991 mur­der of Ludie Mae Tucker in Decatur, Alabama. His jury rec­om­mend­ed that he be sen­tenced to LWOP, but the judge in his case over­rode the jury’s rec­om­men­da­tion and hand­ed down a death sen­tence. The prac­tice of judi­cial over­ride was abol­ished in Alabama in 2017. In her state­ment, Gov. Ivey repeated her…

Executions

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Nov 13, 2023

Alabama Schedules A Second Execution for Kenneth Smith, Using Nitrogen Gas for the First Time in U.S. History

On November 8, 2023, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey sched­uled an exe­cu­tion date for Kenneth Smith, mark­ing the first attempt by a U.S. state to use nitro­gen gas in an exe­cu­tion. Mr. Smith was con­vict­ed of the 1988 mur­der-for-hire death of Elizabeth Sennett in Jefferson County, Alabama and has been on death row for near­ly 34 years. Following the state Supreme Court’s 6 – 2 deci­sion green­light­ing Attorney General Steve Marshall’s request for an exe­cu­tion war­rant, Gov. Ivey set a…

Research

Religion

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New Voices

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Botched Executions

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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 pro­ce­dures” in the wake of a series of botched exe­cu­tions. The church rep­re­sen­ta­tives thanked the gov­er­nor for paus­ing exe­cu­tions but urged her to ensure trans­paren­cy and inde­pen­dence in review­ing how Alabama performs…

Issues

Botched Executions

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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 defen­dants’ rights, which had been in place since Alabama rein­stat­ed the death penal­ty in 1976. Without the review, cap­i­tal defen­dants who were erro­neous­ly con­vict­ed or sen­tenced could spend many more years on death row before…

Executions

Botched Executions

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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 exe­cu­tions can be car­ried out. Governor Ivey’s let­ter fol­lows her November announce­ment of a​“top-to-bot­­tom review” of the state’s exe­cu­tion pro­ce­dures. The let­ter offered no expla­na­tion of the exe­cu­tion teams’ length delays in plac­ing IV lines, nor has…

Executions

Botched Executions

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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 that the review be car­ried out quick­ly. Governor Kay Ivey announced a​“top-to-bot­­tom review” of the state’s exe­cu­tion pro­to­col on November 21, 2022, after two exe­cu­tions in a two-month peri­od had to be called off when…

Executions

Botched Executions

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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 caused Alabama to call off the November 17, 2022 exe­cu­tion of **Kenneth Smith**. The botched exe­cu­tion of Smith marked the third time since 2018 and the sec­ond time in two months that Alabama had called off an exe­cu­tion in process. In…