Alabama | Joe James Scheduled for Execution on July 28

The State of Alabama plans to execute Joe Nathan James on July 28. Like 8 other men before him, the State targeted Mr. James for an execution date because he had not participated in his own execution by choosing his execution method.

In June 2018, the State of Alabama enacted a law that added nitrogen hypoxia as an alternative execution method to lethal injection. The law provided a 30-day window in which people sentenced to death were forced to choose between two different methods of execution—nitrogen hypoxia and lethal injection.

The use of nitrogen gas as a method of execution is an untested process not previously used in a U.S. execution. The State of Alabama still has not created or implemented a protocol to carry out nitrogen hypoxia executions—making it impossible for people on the state’s death row to make an informed decision about the method.

Many people sentenced to death refused to cooperate in their own executions by choosing a method. Many human rights groups have condemned forcing a person to participate in their own deaths as a violation of fundamental human rights and religious freedom.

Others did not select nitrogen hypoxia because, without help, they could not adequately understand how to elect a new method of execution. Even if a person on death row wanted to make an election, there are no written rules that explain and regulate the procedure for doing that.

Those who did not affirmatively select nitrogen hypoxia before the deadline are now being prioritized for execution.

Since June 30, 2018, the State has sought to execute only those who did not select nitrogen hypoxia: Domineque Ray, Michael Brandon Samra, Christopher Price, Jarrod Taylor, Nathaniel Woods, Willie Smith, Matthew Reeves, Joe James, and most recently, Alan Miller.

That the State is targeting people for execution because they did not select nitrogen hypoxia is demonstrated by Mr. Taylor’s case.

On July 29, 2019, the State requested an execution date for Mr. Taylor, stating in a motion that Mr. Taylor had not timely elected nitrogen hypoxia. As soon as the State learned that Mr. Taylor had, in fact, “made a timely election of nitrogen hypoxia,” the State withdrew its request for an execution date for Mr. Taylor.

The State of Alabama subsequently acknowledged that it is seeking executions only against people who did not affirmatively opt for nitrogen hypoxia, although that was not previously disclosed to condemned prisoners.

In January 2020, the State scheduled its next execution date for Nathaniel Woods. Lawyers for Mr. Woods filed a legal challenge arguing that the process that led to Mr. Woods being prioritized for execution was arbitrary and unconstitutional. They contended it was cruel and unusual for the State to seek an execution date for Mr. Woods ahead of others because he did not participate in the execution process and opt for nitrogen hypoxia.

But the federal courts denied relief and the State of Alabama executed Mr. Woods on March 5, 2020.

Willie Smith and Matthew Reeves both had disabilities that prevented them from understanding the election form without help—and they received no help from ADOC.

Lawyers for Mr. Reeves argued that ADOC’s failure to assist him violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. The federal district court agreed and barred the State from executing him by any method other than nitrogen hypoxia before his ADA claim could be decided on the merits.

The Eleventh Circuit unanimously upheld that order, but, without explanation and over a strong dissent, the Supreme Court granted the State’s application to allow the execution by lethal injection to go forward.

Joe James was convicted and sentenced to death in 1996 after the State relied on illegal hearsay evidence. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals reversed his conviction in 1998.

After the appellate court ordered a new trial, the State agreed that a life-without-parole sentence would be appropriate for Mr. James if he pleaded guilty to capital murder.

But his appointed trial lawyers took the case to trial. Following a retrial where counsel presented no mitigating evidence to the jury, Mr. James was convicted and sentenced to death.

Source: eji.org, Staff, July 23, 2022

Alabama lawmaker requests stay of inmate’s execution on behalf of victim’s daughters

State Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, has sent a letter to Gov. Kay Ivey asking for a stay of execution for Joe Nathan James Jr., who is scheduled to die by lethal injection on July 28.

Givan said she is making the request on the behalf of the daughters of James’ victim.

“The daughters of the victim, Faith Hall, have reach out to me asking for a stay of the execution for Mr. James,” Givan said in a news release this morning.

“The family has stated publicly and privately that they do not wish for Joe Nathan James to be executed. They have with deep prayer, consideration, and conviction, are asking for mercy by sparing the life of Mr. James. Instead, they are asking that he continue to serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole.”

James was convicted of capital murder twice for the shooting death of Hall in Birmingham.

Hall was James’ former girlfriend and was killed Aug. 15, 1994. The execution date comes more than 24 years after he was first sentenced.

Source: al.com, Staff, July 23, 2022

🚩 | 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

Cartoons about Capital Punishment

More cartoons about capital punishment HERE

Hanging of Osaka Arsonist is Japan’s First Execution Under Takaichi Government

As a majority of the international community has abolished capital punishment. Japan and the U.S. are the only two countries in the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations that put people to death. The execution of Takami Sunao—an arsonist whose 2009 attack in Osaka killed five—on August 21, 2026, was Japan’s first use of capital punishment in just over a year. Over a Decade from Sentencing to Execution Takami Sunao was executed on August 21, 2026 , for a 2009 arson attack at an Osaka pachinko parlor that killed five people. In July 2009, Takami poured gasoline on the floor of a pachinko parlor in Osaka and set it alight, killing 5 customers and staff members and injuring 10 more. While the defense argued that he was in a state of diminished capacity, the Supreme Court finalized his death sentence in February 2016. The execution took place 17 years after the initial crime and 10 and a half years after the death sentence was finalized.

Japan executes man convicted of killing five in 2009 Osaka pachinko parlor arson

Japan on Friday announced the execution of a man convicted of killing five people after setting fire to an Osaka pachinko parlor in 2009, the first execution by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi 's government as the country faces growing calls for more transparency and the abolition of capital punishment. The Justice Ministry said Sunao Takami, 58, was hanged to death earlier Friday. Takami in 2009 set fire to the crowded pachinko parlor in Osaka by spreading gasoline and throwing a lit match, engulfing the building, killing five and injuring 10 others, Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi said.

Spared execution eight times, oldest inmate in US dies at 101 after 76 years behind bars

Francis Clifford Smith was given his last meal eight times. But after being spared execution each time, he went on to be regarded as the longest-serving prisoner in the US before dying in June at 101 years old. Convicted of murder in 1950 when he was 25, he always maintained his innocence, those who knew him told the BBC. Andrius Banevicius, the public information officer for Connecticut's Department of Correction, recounted how Smith used to feed the birds while in Osborn Prison, earning him the nickname The Birdman of Osborn.

Florida | Jury recommends death sentence for Jeffrey Crum in killing of 12-year-old girl

BROOKSVILLE, Fla. — A Hernando County jury has recommended the death penalty for a 65-year-old man who was found guilty last week of raping and killing 12-year-old Jennifer Odom. Sentencing for Jeffrey Crum was held this week. Crum abducted Odom in 1993 after she stepped off her school bus in Pasco County. Her body was found in a Hernando County orange grove six days later.

Israel builds execution chamber for Palestinians convicted of murder

In March, the Knesset approved legislation that calls for the execution of Palestinians convicted by a military court of killing Israelis Israeli authorities are preparing a prison wing—replete with an execution chamber—designated specifically for Palestinian prisoners convicted of murder, Israel’s i24NEWS channel reported Tuesday. The move comes after the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) approved legislation in March that calls for the execution of Palestinian prisoners convicted by a military court of murdering Israelis.

Florida executes William Frances Silvia

Florida executed its 13th death row prisoner of the year Tuesday evening amid the state’s aggressive use of the death penalty championed by Governor Ron DeSantis. William Frances Silvia, 61, who was convicted of fatally shooting his estranged wife and injuring his mother-in-law in 2006, was pronounced dead at 6:11 p.m. after receiving the lethal three-drug injection at Florida State Prison. At 6 p.m. Tuesday, Silvia was already strapped to a gurney with an IV in his arm when the curtain to the death chamber went up. He remained relatively motionless with his eyes and mouth open throughout most of the execution while a priest sat at his feet and prayed.

Alabama is trying a death penalty bait-and-switch

For a decade, Alabama death row inmate Jeffrey Lee has been clear that he does not want to be executed by lethal injection . But that is what awaits him on September 17 . He faces that prospect because the state has been enjoined from using nitrogen hypoxia , the alternative execution method he preferred, to put him to death. Having failed to show that its nitrogen hypoxia protocol is constitutionally acceptable, Alabama wants a do-over to force Lee to die by lethal injection as a result of its own failure. It should not get one. Alabama should only be able to put Lee to death if it can fix nitrogen hypoxia’s constitutional defects.

Oklahoma executes Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez

Oklahoma has carried out 1 of 3 executions set for the same day in the United States in another sign of the resurgence of the death penalty in the country. Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez was pronounced dead at 10:13 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 13, at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He was put to death by lethal injection for the murder of his common-law wife in 2003 at their Oklahoma City home. He admitted to police he shot her twice during an argument. Cuesta-Rodriguez, 70, did not fight for his life, stunning his attorneys in July when he told the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board that he didn't want clemency. "It's time for me to pay for what I did," he said.

Israel’s Ben-Gvir posts video of gallows site for hanging Palestinian terrorists

Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has posted a video of the construction of a gallows complex where Palestinians convicted of terror offenses will be hanged. Ben-Givr said the new execution site would be equipped with viewing booths for families of victims to watch the hangings. He posted the video on social media of a visit he had made to the unidentified location, where he can be seen pointing at foundations being laid and saying it was where “terrorists will be executed." Photographs in the Israeli media showed a bulldozer and heavy construction work in a cordoned-off area, reportedly close to a prison.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog