Alabama | Matthew Reeves Given Execution Date of January 27, 2022

Matthew Reeves is scheduled to be executed on Thursday, January 27, 2022, at the Holeman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama. 44-year-old Mathew is convicted of murdering 38-year-old Willie Johnson on November 27, 1996, in Selma, Alabama. Matthew has spent the last 23 years on Alabama’s death row.

Matthew did not have a stable childhood. He had little structure in the home and little supervision. Before his arrest, Matthew worked in construction.

Matthew Reeves and his younger brother Julius visited Brenda Suttles at her house in Selma on November 27, 1996. Brenda’s 15-year-old cousin, Emanuel was also there. Shortly after noon, all 4 agreed to go out looking for some people to rob. While out, they saw Jason Powell driving his car and convinced Jason to give them a ride to the neighboring town of White Hall. The group planned to rob a drug dealer. Before leaving Selma, Julius retrieved a shotgun and gave it to Matthew.

Between Selma and White Hall, Jason’s car broke down. Eventually, Willie Johnson drove by and agreed to tow Jason’s car back to Selma. Julius rode with Willie in his vehicle, while the others were in Jason’s truck. Upon arriving back in Selma, Julius exited the car and told the others Willie wanted $25 for towing.

Julius claimed he could give Willie a ring as payment, if Willie would take him to his girlfriend’s house to retrieve it. Willie agreed and began unhooking Jason’s car from his. During this time, Julius told the others Willie would be their robbery victim.

Julius again rode in the cab of the truck with Willie, while the others rode in the bed of the truck. Matthew waited until Willie was in the driver’s seat before hopping into the back of the truck with the shotgun. The group retrieved the ring and returned to where they had unhooked Jason’s truck. After turning into an alley, Matthew stuck the shotgun through the rear open window in the truck and shot Willie in the neck. After shooting Willie, Matthew told the others to steal his money.

Matthew, Julius, and Brenda attempted to hide the gun and their bloodstained clothing before returning to their friends. They stole approximately $360 from Willie, who died from his gunshot wound. Throughout that evening, Matthew repeatedly bragged about killing a man.

Willie’s body was discovered the following day, and a blood trail led police to the weapons and bloodstained clothing. Matthew was arrested later that day. Julius and Brenda were also eventually arrested. Julius, Brenda, and the others with them that all testified against Matthew. Matthew was sentenced to death. Julius was sentenced to life in prison, without the possibility of parole. Brenda was sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility of parole.

Pray for peace and healing for the family of Willie. Pray for strength for the family of Matthew. Please pray that if Matthew is innocent, lacks the competency to be executed, or should not be executed for any other reason, that evidence will be presented before his execution. Pray that Matthew may come to find peace through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Source: theforgivenessfoundation.org, Staff, December 28, 2021

🚩 | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com.

Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

Tennessee | Christa Pike’s lawyer says she has not regained consciousness since her failed execution

Christa Pike has remained unconscious and on a ventilator at a hospital in the four days since her failed execution in Tennessee, and her prognosis might not be known for days more, one of her lawyers said Sunday. Little has been released about Pike’s condition since Wednesday night’s execution attempt. She has since remained hospitalized under guard as doctors try to get the massive dose of the barbiturate pentobarbital out of her system. When asked whether she ever regained consciousness after the execution attempt, Assistant Federal Defender Stephen Ferrell, Pike’s lawyer, said on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “Not that I am aware of.”

What Tennessee wants to do next to Christa Pike is beyond grim

Christa Pike, the woman who survived two execution attempts in Tennessee earlier this week, remains hospitalized in critical condition, where presumably medical staff is at work trying to keep her alive. If she wakes from the coma she had entered, Tennessee officials want to start anew to inject lethal drugs into her seemingly too-small veins to kill her and carry out the state death warrant. Pike also is being treated for “significant injuries to both arms” sustained when two lethal injections of pentobarbital failed to kill her. If she dies, there will be no need to try again. As we know by now, Tennessee tried to put Pike to death Wednesday night by lethal injection for a murder she committed when she was 18. She would have been the first woman executed in the state in 200 years.

Tennessee Woman Christa Pike Survives Lethal Injection, Ends Up in Hospital; Governor Halts Executions

Tennessee unable to carry out the execution by lethal injection of Christa Gail Pike Tennessee officials were unable to put Christa Gail Pike to death for a 1995 murder Wednesday, media witnesses said, after the lethal injection was halted for hours as courts considered a last-minute appeal of what would have been the state's 1st execution of a woman in at least 200 years. Pike, 50, had been scheduled for execution for a killing she committed at age 18 after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned an appeals court ruling that stopped the lethal injection just an hour before it was to start. Officials then attempted to go ahead with it as planned.

Florida executes Curtis Beasley

A 77-year-old man convicted of killing a woman with a hammer has become the 16th person executed this year in Florida A 77-year-old Florida man was put to death Tuesday for his conviction in a deadly hammer attack on a woman decades ago, becoming the 16th person executed to date this year in the nation’s busiest death chamber. Curtis Wilkie Beasley was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. following a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was convicted of 1st-degree murder, robbery, and grand theft auto in the 1995 hammer attack on Carolyn Monfort at her home south of Orlando.

Indiana plans to proceed with execution after botched Tennessee attempt

Indiana prison officials plan to proceed with Jeffrey Weisheit’s Nov. 5 execution after a botched lethal injection in Tennessee prompted that state’s governor to halt executions and order an independent review. The Indiana Department of Correction said Thursday that it remains confident in its procedures despite using the same protocol as Tennessee. Agency officials offered no additional details about the training of those administering lethal injections, the role of medical personnel, or safeguards for execution drugs.

Florida | He executed death row prisoners. Then they came back to haunt him

Dunnellon, Florida—Every night, one of the men Ron McAndrew killed would sit at the foot of his bed and stare, blankly, into his tortured soul. He knew they were coming. He’d shift over in his sheets to make room. “They never said anything,” McAndrew recalls, his aged voice straining from the weight of the memory. “They just sat there and looked at me.” But their eyes would talk. They would ask, "How could you do such a thing?’” says McAndrew. “You always claimed to be a good person. And now you’re killing people.”

Tennessee | Governor permits Christa Pike execution: 'I am upholding the sentence'

Gov. Bill Lee does not plan to stop Christa Pike's execution. Pike, 50, is scheduled to be killed by lethal injection 10 a.m. Sept. 30 at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. “After deliberate consideration of Christa Gail Pike’s request for clemency, and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee and do not plan to intervene," Lee said in a statement released Sept. 28. Pike's attorneys lamented the news.

Singapore | Ministry of Home Affairs refutes claims that death penalty was discussed during visit by Israel's security ministry

The Ministry of Home Affairs says discussions with the Israeli government involved the sharing of best practices in emergency response, crime prevention, and forensics. Issues relating to the death penalty “were never part of the meeting and were not discussed." SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday (Sep 11) refuted claims by an Israeli media outlet that the death penalty was discussed during a visit by an Israeli delegation in May. The Haaretz newspaper reported on Sep 7 that a delegation comprising representatives from the Israel Prison Service and National Security Ministry made a “secret visit” to Singapore that month.

Philippines | President Marcos Grants Absolute Pardon to Mary Jane Veloso

President Marcos Confirms Decision to Grant Absolute Pardon to Mary Jane Veloso President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has signed an absolute pardon for Mary Jane Veloso after more than a decade. On Friday (September 25, 2026), the President confirmed the decision during a visit to Guiuan, Eastern Samar. According to him, the pardon was officially signed the previous day, marking a major development in the case.

Tennessee Supreme Court denies stay for death row inmate Christa Pike

(TNND) — As Tennessee prepares for a Sept. 30 execution, the Tennessee Supreme Court has denied death row inmate Christa Gail Pike’s request to stop it. The court rejected Pike’s challenge to the state’s lethal-injection protocol, finding that her thrombocytosis diagnosis, a condition involving elevated blood platelets, did not show the execution would violate the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog