Alabama executes James Barber

ATMORE, Ala. (AP) — Alabama executed a man on Friday for the 2001 beating death of a woman as the state resumed lethal injections following a pause to review procedures.

James Barber, 64, was pronounced dead at 1:56 a.m. after receiving a lethal injection at a south Alabama prison.

Barber was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2001 beating death of 75-year-old Dorothy Epps. Prosecutors said Barber, a handyman, confessed to killing Epps with a claw hammer and fleeing with her purse. Jurors voted 11-1 to recommend a death sentence, which a judge imposed.

It was the first execution carried out in Alabama this year after the state halted executions last fall. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey announced a pause on executions in November to conduct an internal review of procedures.

The move came after the state halted two lethal injections because of difficulties inserting IVs into the condemned men’s veins. Advocacy groups claimed a third execution, carried out after a delay because of IV problems, was botched, a claim the state has disputed.

Barber’s attorneys unsuccessfully asked the courts to block the execution, saying the state has a pattern of failing “to carry out a lethal injection execution in a constitutional manner.”

The state asked the courts to let the execution proceed.

“Mrs. Epps and her family have waited for justice for twenty-two years,” the Alabama attorney general’s office wrote in a court filing.

Barber’s scheduled execution comes hours after Oklahoma executed Jemaine Cannon for stabbing a Tulsa woman to death with a butcher knife in 1995 after his escape from a prison work center.

Barber's attorney's asked the Supreme Court to halt the execution, citing Alabama's recent problems.

Attorneys for inmate Alan Miller said prison staff poked him with needles for over an hour as they unsuccessfully tried to connect an IV line to him and at one point left him hanging vertically on a gurney during his aborted execution in September. State officials called off the November execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith after they were unsuccessful in connecting the second of two required lines.

Barber's attorneys were fighting for a sentence of life in prison for Barber.

The court rejected in a 6-3 vote Barber’s argument that his Eighth Amendment rights would be violated if put to death by lethal injection.

Advocacy groups claimed a third execution, carried out in July after a delay because of IV problems, was botched because of multiple attempts to connect the line, a claim the state has disputed.

Ivey announced in February that the state was resuming executions. Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said prison system had added to its pool of medical professionals, ordered new equipment and conducted additional rehearsals.

The ADOC said that Barber refused breakfast Thursday and ate snacks. For his final meal, Barber requested loaded hashbrowns, western omelet, spicy sausage and white toast. On Wednesday, Barber had 10 visitors and six phone calls. On Thursday, he had 22 visitors and two phone calls.

Source: The Associated Press, Staff, July 20, 2023

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