Alabama to execute man for 1997 shooting death of store clerk

It is one of two executions scheduled Thursday in the United States. Texas plans to carry out a lethal injection on the same evening.

Alabama is preparing to execute a man convicted of killing a woman during a 1997 gas station robbery in what will be the nation's latest execution carried out with nitrogen gas.

Geoffrey Todd West, 50, is scheduled to be executed Thursday night at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in south Alabama. West was convicted of capital murder for the 1997 shooting death of Margaret Parrish Berry, 33. Berry's son is among those who urged Alabama's governor to commute West's sentence to life in prison.

The killing

Berry, the mother of two sons, was shot while lying on the floor behind the counter at Harold’s Chevron in Etowah County on March 28, 1997.

Prosecutors said the store clerk was killed to ensure there was no witness left behind. Court records state that $250 was taken from a cookie can that held the store’s money. West's girlfriend agreed to testify against him in exchange for a 35-year sentence for her role in the robbery and slaying.

A jury convicted West of capital murder during a robbery and voted 10-2 to recommend a death sentence — a recommendation accepted by the judge. Etowah County Circuit Judge William Cardwell said at the 1999 sentencing that he found it difficult to order the execution of a young man but said the killing was "intentional, carried out execution-style.”

“I’m so very sorry”

West doesn’t deny he killed Margaret Berry. He said at 50 that he struggles to understand what he did at 21. He and his girlfriend were desperate for cash and went to the store where he once worked to rob it.

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t regret it and wish that I could take that back," West told The Associated Press.

He said he wants to apologize to Berry's family.

“I’m so very sorry for the hurt that I’ve caused you all. I’m so very sorry for what I’ve taken away from you, and I hope and pray you forgive me,” West said of what he wants to tell Berry’s family.

A plea from victim's son

One of Berry’s sons urged Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey to halt the execution and let West serve the rest of his life in prison.

Will Berry said he has forgiven West. He said that he believes forgiveness is what his mother would want.

“I don’t want this man to die. Vengeance isn’t for the state. It’s for the Lord,” Will Berry said.

Berry on Tuesday joined death penalty opponents at a vigil outside the Alabama Capitol. He helped delivered a petition to Ivey's office asking that the execution be halted.

Ivey replied in a Sept. 11 letter to Berry that she appreciated his belief, but she said Alabama law “imposes death as punishment for the most egregious forms of murder.”

“As governor, it is my solemn duty to carry out these laws,” Ivey wrote.

Ivey has commuted one death sentence during her eight years in office. The Republican governor wrote in the letter that she did so only because of questions about the person’s guilt.

West and Will Berry exchanged letters. The two men had asked to be able to meet ahead of the Thursday night execution. But the state denied the request for security reasons.

Nitrogen gas

West will be executed by nitrogen gas. The method involves strapping a gas mask to the face and forcing the inmate to breathe pure nitrogen gas, thus depriving the person of the oxygen needed to stay alive. Nitrogen is an inert gas that makes up 78% of the Earth's atmosphere and is harmless when mixed with adequate oxygen.

After Alabama lawmakers in 2018 authorized nitrogen gas as an execution method, the Alabama Department of Corrections gave death row prisoners a brief window to name their preferred execution method. West was one several dozen inmates in 2018 who picked nitrogen. However, at the time the state had not developed procedures for using it, and it was unclear when that would happen.

Alabama carried out the nation's first nitrogen gas execution in 2024. Nationally, six people have now been executed using nitrogen gas — five in Alabama and one in Louisiana.

Lethal injection remains Alabama's primary execution method.

Source: The Associated Press, Staff, September 25, 2025

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

— Oscar Wilde

Comments

South Carolina | Inmate who believes he’s died repeatedly can’t be executed, judge rules

SPARTANBURG — A 59-year-old man sentenced to death for killing a state trooper in Greenville County in 2000 can’t be executed because of a mental illness that’s left him incoherent and believing he’s immortal, a Circuit Court judge has ruled. John Richard Wood is the first condemned inmate in South Carolina found not competent to be executed since the state restarted capital punishment in September 2024. The seven executions since then include three men who chose to die by firing squad — the latest in November. Wood, convicted 24 years ago, was among death row inmates in line to receive a death warrant after exhausting their regular appeals.

Idaho eyes restart of death row executions as firing squad draws near

BOISE, Idaho — Idaho’s prison system has nearly completed execution chamber upgrades to carry out the death penalty by firing squad as the state’s lead method and will have a team of riflemen ready to go by the time a state law takes effect this summer. As part of the transition, the Idaho Department of Correction hopes to limit participation by its officers as the shooting of condemned people in prison to death is prioritized over lethal injection. Toward that effort, prisoner leadership sought to implement a push-button technology to avoid needing IDOC workers to pull the triggers.

20 Minutes to Death: Witness to the Last Execution in France

The following document is a firsthand account of the final moments of Hamida Djandoubi, a convicted murderer executed by guillotine at Marseille’s Baumettes Prison on September 10, 1977. The record—dated September 9—was written by Monique Mabelly, a judge appointed by the state to witness the proceedings. Djandoubi’s execution would ultimately be the last carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. At the time, President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing—who had publicly voiced his "deep aversion to the death penalty" prior to his election—rejected Djandoubi’s appeal for clemency. Choosing to let "justice take its course," the President allowed the execution to proceed, just as he had in two previous cases during his term: Christian Ranucci , executed on July 28, 1976 and Jérôme Carrein , executed on June 23, 1977. Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian national, was sentenced to death for killing his former lover, Elisabeth Bousquet. He was execu...

China | Man sentenced to death for murder executed in Yunnan

Tian Yongming, who was initially sentenced for a series of violent crimes and then had his sentence changed to death early this year, has been executed in Yunnan province following approval from China's top court. The execution was carried out by the Intermediate People's Court in Yuxi, Yunnan, on Tuesday, with local prosecutors supervising the process. Before the execution, Tian was allowed to meet with his family members. The case dates back to September 1996, when Tian was sentenced to nine years in prison for the rape and attempted murder of his sister-in-law. After his release on July 15, 2002, he plotted revenge against the woman. On the night of Nov 13, 2002, he broke into her home armed with a knife.

South Dakota | Latest appeal from state's lone death row inmate denied

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit has rejected the latest appeal from Briley Piper, the only person on death row in South Dakota. In March 2000, Briley Piper, along with co-defendants Elijah Page and Darrell Hoadley, conspired to burglarize the Lawrence County home of 19-year-old Chester Poage before abducting and murdering him by beating, stabbing, and stoning in a remote area. Piper was subsequently arrested, convicted of murder, and sentenced to death, while his accomplices received either a death sentence—carried out against Page in 2007—or a sentence of life imprisonment without parole.

Iran to execute first woman linked to mass protests after ‘forced confessions’

Bita Hemmati and three others have been sentenced to death for 'collusion' and 'propaganda.' Advocates claim the charges are baseless, citing a secretive process and state-televised interrogations. Iranian authorities are preparing to execute Bita Hemmati, the first woman sentenced to death in connection with the mass protests in Tehran in late December and January, according to the US-based non-profit the Human Rights Activists News Agency. Judge Iman Afshari, of Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, sentenced Hemmati, her husband, Mohammadreza Majidi Asl, and Behrouz Zamaninezhad, and Kourosh Zamaninezhad to death on the charge of “operational action for the hostile government of the United States and hostile groups,” in addition to discretionary imprisonment period of five years on the charge of “assembly and collusion against national security.”

Texas | James Broadnax's appeals: US Supreme Court denies 2 claims, confession pending

Despite an 11th-hour confession from another man, James Broadnax is slated to be executed by the state of Texas later this week. Broadnax, 37, is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection April 30 in Huntsville. He was condemned by a Dallas County jury in 2009 for the deaths of Stephen Swan, 26, and Matthew Butler, 28, outside their Garland music studio. Broadnax and his cousin, Demarius Cummings, had set out to rob the men, but left with only $2 and a 1995 Ford, according to previous reporting from The Dallas Morning News.

Florida executes Chadwick Scott Willacy

STARKE, Fla. -- A Florida man who set his neighbor on fire after she returned from work to find him burglarizing her home was executed Tuesday evening. Chadwick Scott Willacy, 58, received a three-drug injection and was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke for the 1990 killing of Marlys Sather. It was Florida's fifth execution this year. The curtain to the execution chamber went up promptly at the scheduled 6 p.m. time, and the lethal injection got underway two minutes later, after Willacy made a brief statement.

Arizona | Man who murdered pastor crucifixion style requests plea deal after parents killed in plane crash

Adam Sheafe, the California man who admitted to killing a New River, Arizona, pastor in a crucifixion-style attack, has asked prosecutors to offer him a plea deal that would result in a natural life sentence rather than the death penalty he had previously sought. Advisory council attorneys representing Sheafe sent a formal plea offer to prosecutors this week, about two weeks after his father and stepmother died in a plane crash at Marana Airport on April 8, according to 12 News. Sheafe, 51, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of William Schonemann, 76, pastor of New River Bible Church, who was found dead inside his home last April.

Florida executes James Ernest Hitchcock

STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man convicted of beating and choking his brother’s 13-year-old stepdaughter to death nearly 50 years ago was executed Thursday evening. James Ernest Hitchcock, 70, was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. following a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was convicted of the July 1976 killing of Cynthia Driggers. The curtain to the death chamber opened promptly at the 6 p.m. execution time. Hitchcock’s entire body was covered in a sheet up to his head. He stared at the ceiling as the team warden made a call, then gave his final statement.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog