Entries tagged with “Nathaniel Woods”
Research
Religion
,Upcoming Executions
,Feb 10, 2021
Supreme Court Lets Stand Federal Appeals Court Injunction Halting Alabama Execution on Claim of Religious Discrimination
Four hours after Alabama was scheduled to execute death-row prisoner Willie B. Smith III on February 11, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a federal appeals court injunction barring the execution from going forward unless the state permitted Smith’s pastor to be present to provide him religious comfort in the execution chamber. Alabama then announced that it was calling off the execution. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit had issued the preliminary injunction late in the…
Issues
May 21, 2020
First Execution, New Death Sentence During Coronavirus Pandemic Highlight Grave Flaws in U.S. Capital Punishment System
The first new death sentence and first execution since public health concerns arising from the coronavirus pandemic shuttered most court proceedings across the country have highlighted several of the gravest concerns about the death penalty in the United States. On May 18, 2020, as defense lawyers questioned their client’s mental competency, a three-judge panel sentenced Joel Drain to death in Warren County, Ohio in trial proceedings lasting less than six hours. Drain, who had attempted…
Issues
Upcoming Executions
,Feb 28, 2020
Alabama Set to Execute Nathaniel Woods Despite Claims of Innocence, Police Misconduct
Nathaniel Woods (pictured, left) did not shoot Alabama police officers Charles Bennett, Carlos “Curly” Owen, and Harley Chisholm III (pictured left to right, below). But because of alleged police misconduct, incompetent representation, and Alabama law allowing death verdicts based on non-unanimous jury votes, he faces execution on March 5, 2020 for their deaths. Prosecutors acknowledge that Woods’ co-defendant, Kerry Spencer, shot the officers in an incident in a drug house on June 17, 2004.