Entries tagged with “Joe Nathan James”

Executions

Botched Executions

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Lethal Injection

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May 08, 2023

Family Sues Alabama Over ​‘Longest Known Execution in U.S. History’

On May 3, 2023, the fam­i­ly of Joe Nathan James (pic­tured) sued the state of Alabama for the pain and suf­fer­ing it caused dur­ing his three-hour-long lethal injec­tion in 2022. It is believed to be the longest known exe­cu­tion in U.S. his­to­ry. The suit asserts that ​“the exe­cu­tion team failed to exe­cute Mr. James in a man­ner that com­ports with the U.S. Constitution, the Alabama Constitution, and applic­a­ble state…

Executions

Botched Executions

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Lethal Injection

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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…

Executions

Botched Executions

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Lethal Injection

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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 exe­cu­tion­er were unable to set…

Facts & Research

History of the Death Penalty

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Botched Executions

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Lethal Injection

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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 forty years since, U.S. states and the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment have put 1377 pris­on­ers to death by some ver­sion of the method. Touted as swift and pain­less and a more humane way to die — just as exe­cu­tion pro­po­nents had said near­ly a cen­tu­ry before about…

Executions

Botched Executions

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Lethal Injection

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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…

Executions

Botched Executions

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Lethal Injection

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Sep 26, 2022

Federal Court Orders Alabama to Preserve Evidence of Botched Attempted Execution of Alan Miller

A fed­er­al dis­trict court has ordered Alabama state offi­cials to pre­serve evi­dence relat­ed to the state’s failed attempt to exe­cute death-row pris­on­er Alan Miller on September 22, 2022. The botched exe­cu­tion attempt, Alabama’s third since 2018, came after a divid­ed U.S. Supreme Court issued an after-hours exe­cu­tion-night order set­ting aside with­out opin­ion an injunc­tion that had barred the state from exe­cut­ing Miller ​“by any method oth­er than nitro­gen hypox­ia.” Prison offi­cials then…

Policy Issues

Human Rights

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Methods of Execution

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Lethal Injection

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Sep 21, 2022

Alabama Federal Court Issues Injunction Halting Execution of Alan Miller

A fed­er­al dis­trict court issued an order on September 19, 2022 to halt the sched­uled September 22, 2022 exe­cu­tion of Alabama death-row pris­on­er Alan Miller ​“by any method oth­er than nitro­gen hypox­ia,” lead­ing to a series of last-minute appeals by Alabama pros­e­cu­tors and an after-hours exe­cu­tion-night rul­ing by the U.S. Supreme Court to let the exe­cu­tion go for­ward. Alabama sub­se­quent­ly called off the exe­cu­tion when it became appar­ent more than two hours later…

Executions

Executions Overview

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Botched Executions

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Lethal Injection

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Aug 16, 2022

Private Autopsy Documents ​‘Carnage’ Experienced by Alabama Death-Row Prisoner Joe Nathan James During Longest Botched Lethal-Injection Execution in History

A pri­vate autop­sy of Alabama death-row pris­on­er Joe Nathan James, Jr. sug­gests that unqual­i­fied cor­rec­tions per­son­nel sub­ject­ed him to a tor­tur­ous, hours-long exe­cu­tion process in a botched exe­cu­tion that experts say was the longest since the advent of lethal injec­tion forty years…

Executions

Botched Executions

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Aug 08, 2022

Sister Calls for Investigation Into Alabama’s Botched Execution of Joe James

The sis­ter of death-row pris­on­er Joe Nathan James Jr. has called for an inves­ti­ga­tion into his botched exe­cu­tion fol­low­ing a state­ment by an Alabama Department of Correction’s spokesper­son that ADOC could not con­firm that James was ful­ly con­scious when he was…

Executions

Botched Executions

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Lethal Injection

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Jul 29, 2022

Alabama Execution of Joe Nathan James Marred by Failures to Set IV Line, Embarrassing Dress-Code Controversy, and Disrespect of Victim’s Family

Alabama put Joe Nathan James, Jr. to death on July 28, 2022 against the wish­es of his victim’s fam­i­ly in an exe­cu­tion marred by an hours-long fail­ure to set a lethal-injec­tion intra­venous line and an embar­rass­ing dress-code con­tro­ver­sy in which a cor­rec­tions offi­cial told a female reporter she would not be able to wit­ness the exe­cu­tion because her skirt was too short and she was wear­ing open-toed shoes and sub­ject­ed anoth­er female reporter to a clothing…

Policy Issues

Victims' Families

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Upcoming Executions

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Jul 21, 2022

Alabama Set to Execute Joe Nathan James Against the Wishes of His Victim’s Family

If Alabama exe­cutes Joe Nathan James on July 28, 2022 for the mur­der of Faith Hall, it can­not claim to be doing jus­tice for her or her fam­i­ly. Hall’s two daugh­ters, Terrlyn and Toni Hall (pic­tured, far left and far right) and her broth­er Helvetius Hall (pic­tured, mid­dle), oppose James’ exe­cu­tion and say Faith would oppose it,…