Tommy Tuberville only U.S. Senator openly backing Donald Trump in 2024
Former President Donald Trump announced last week that he was indeed running for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in 2024. U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville has since told reporters that he will support Trump’s candidacy for president and praised his track record in the Oval Office. “He’s the leader America needs in 2024,” said Sen. Tuberville on Twitter Thursday night. “That’s why I’m proud to endorse Donald J. Trump for President of the United States!” Tuberville followed those comments with an interview on Fox News. “He stood up for the American people,” Tuberville said of Trump in a recent comment on Fox News, speaking with Maria Bartiromo, saying that he was “100%” behind Trump. Tuberville followed that up with comments to reporters from Washington, D.C. “He doesn’t have to learn the ropes,” Tuberville said. “He knows the ropes. He won’t be running again (in 2028). I like someone who will come in and say, ‘Listen, I don’t care. I will do what’s good for America.’” The other 48 Republican Senators were not so quick to jump on the Trump bandwagon. Sen. Lindsey Graham stopped short of endorsing Trump’s candidacy. “If President Trump continues this tone and delivers this message on a consistent basis, he will be hard to beat,” Graham wrote following Trump’s Mar-O-Lago speech. “His speech tonight, contrasting his policies and results against the Biden Administration, charts a winning path for him in the primaries and general election.” Graham was non-committal on endorsing Trump, though. Sen. Mitt Romney has been harshly critical of Trump. Romney called former President Donald Trump an “albatross” on electoral prospects for Republicans in the midterms. “I think President Trump was an albatross on the electoral prospects for some of our candidates,” Romney told MSNBC’s, Saul Kapur. “He helped select some of the people who turned out not to be very effective candidates.” “I understand that he’s going to run for president and announce that tomorrow. It’s like the aging pitcher who keeps losing games,” Romney added. “If we want to win, we need a different pitcher on the mound.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has said that the party has scared off moderate Republicans and independents. Trump, for his part, has blamed McConnell for the underwhelming GOP performance in midterm Senate races. “It’s Mitch McConnell’s fault,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Spending money to defeat great Republican candidates instead of backing Blake Masters and others was a big mistake. Giving 4 trillion dollars to the Green New Deal, not infrastructure, was an even bigger mistake. He blew the Midterms, and everyone despises him and his otherwise lovely wife Coco Chow.” Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan came out strongly against another Trump run for the Presidency. “I am a Never-Again-Trumper. Why? Because I want to win, and we lose with Trump,” Ryan said in a recent interview on ABC News ‘This week.’ “It was really clear to us in ’18, in ’20, and now in 2022.” “I personally think the evidence is really clear. The biggest factor was the Trump factor … I think we would have won places like Arizona, places like Pennsylvania, New Hampshire had we had a typical, traditional conservative Republican, not a Trump Republican.” Trump is currently 76 years old. By the 2024 election, he will be older than Ronald Reagan was when Reagan was leaving office. The only President in American history who was older is President Joe Biden, who turned 80 on Sunday. To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
TS Police Support League Great Turkey Giveaway continues
On Saturday, November 19, the Fourth Annual Great Turkey Giveaway was held by TS Police Support League, Inc., in partnership with Greene County Sheriff Jonathan “Joe” Benison at the Jail Parking Lot. Will Parker helped coordinate the event. 1500 frozen turkeys were distributed at a cost of over $43,000.00. TS Police Support League President Sheila Smith said, “We are blessed to be able to continue to provide for the citizens of Greene County. Without electronic bingo funds, none of our gifts would be possible.” TS Police Support League Secretary/Treasurer J. W. McFarland, Jr. said, “We must keep the GREEN in GREENE County. Save Amendment 743, and Happy Thanksgiving!”
Kay Ivey asks Steve Marshall to withdraw state’s two pending motions to set execution dates
Governor Kay Ivey on Monday asked Attorney General Steve Marshall to withdraw the State’s two pending motions to set execution dates in the cases of Alan Eugene Miller and James Edward Barber, the only two death row inmates with such motions currently pending before the Alabama Supreme Court. This follows Thursday’s botched attempt to execute Kenneth Eugene Smith and previous troubling executions. Ivey has ordered Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm to undertake a top-to-bottom review of the State’s execution process and how to ensure the State can successfully deliver justice going forward. “For the sake of the victims and their families, we’ve got to get this right,” Ivey said. “I don’t buy for a second the narrative being pushed by activists that these issues are the fault of the folks at Corrections or anyone in law enforcement, for that matter. I believe that legal tactics and criminals hijacking the system are at play here.” “I will commit all necessary support and resources to the Department to ensure those guilty of perpetrating the most heinous crimes in our society receive their just punishment,” Ivey continued. “I simply cannot, in good conscience, bring another victim’s family to Holman looking for justice and closure until I am confident that we can carry out the legal sentence.” The governor also requests that the attorney general not seek additional execution dates for any other death row inmates until the top-to-bottom review is complete. Ivey said that she appreciates the hard work of AG Marshall and his team to pursue justice in these cases and looks forward to receiving the input of his office, as appropriate, as the review moves forward. Commissioner Hamm agreed with Ivey. “I agree with Governor Ivey that we have to get this right for the victims’ sake,” Hamm said. “Everything is on the table – from our legal strategy in dealing with last-minute appeals, to how we train and prepare, to the order and timing of events on execution day, to the personnel and equipment involved. The Alabama Department of Corrections is fully committed to this effort and confident that we can get this done right.” Miller gunned down Lee Holdbrooks, age 32, Scott Yancy, age 28, and Terry Jarvis, age 39, in a workplace-related shooting in Shelby County on July 31, 2000. Barber, a handyman, robbed and killed elderly neighbor Dorothy Epps, age 75, in Harvest in Madison County in 2001. Lethal injection is the preferred method of execution because it is supposedly more humane than the electric chair, firing squad, gas chamber, hanging, or beheading, but Smith was allegedly strapped to a gurney for four hours Thursday night while Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) employees tried in vain to find a blood vein so that the State could kill him before ADOC finally gave up. U.S District Judge R. Austin Huffaker Jr. on Friday granted a request from Smith’s lawyers to visit with Smith and take photographs of his body. Huffaker also ordered the State to preserve notes and other materials related to what happened in the botched execution. This was the third failed execution attempt by the State of Alabama since 2018. To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Alabama Power President and CEO Mark Crosswhite announces retirement
Today, Alabama Power President and CEO Mark Crosswhite announced his retirement, effective Dec. 31. “Having the privilege of leading Alabama Power has been the high point of my career,” Crosswhite said. “It has been an honor working for a company that for more than a century has been dedicated to serving communities across Alabama. As I approach my 60th birthday, though, I have come to realize it is time for me to spend more time with my family.” Crosswhite led Alabama Power for more than eight years and built a reputation as a low-key but powerful industry thought leader and corporate citizen. Crosswhite pivoted Alabama Power toward innovation and meeting customers’ long-term energy needs while championing a strong relationship with the company’s building trades partners. He also advanced the company’s role in elevating the state and its communities with a continued emphasis on economic development and through the work of the Alabama Power Foundation and company employee and retiree volunteers. Tom Fanning, chairman, president and CEO of Southern Company, Alabama Power’s parent company, praised Crosswhite for his impact at Alabama Power and across the state. “Mark has spent a lifetime in service to his home state of Alabama through his work dedicated to the numerous charitable, civic, and nonprofit causes he champions. As the leader of Alabama Power Company, one of Alabama’s great corporate institutions, he carried with him each and every day that sense of service as he worked to improve the lives of customers, communities, and colleagues,” Fanning said. “The entire Southern Company system has benefited greatly from Mark’s expertise, wisdom, and citizenship in helping build the future of energy for the betterment of millions of lives across the country,” he said. “I wish Mark, his wife, Jane Emily, their two sons, and the entire Crosswhite family nothing but the best during retirement.” Crosswhite’s successor will be named at a later date. Among Crosswhite’s accomplishments while at Alabama Power: Crosswhite worked closely with Alabama Power employees in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and in the building trades on continuing Alabama Power’s strong labor-management partnership. Crosswhite’s expertise in labor relations was recognized when North America’s Building Trades Unions named him its apprenticeship readiness national spokesperson in 2019 and 2020. Crosswhite and Alabama Power collaborated with state government and other economic development officials and stakeholders to build a robust innovation economy in the state. Crosswhite oversaw the forming of Alabama Power’s Council on Culture and Inclusion, which works to ensure the company’s culture is the best it can be – built on inclusion, respect, and fairness for all employees. Working with other Birmingham-area leaders, Crosswhite led the launch of Prosper, an initiative focused on creating a more prosperous region by investing in opportunities that grow the area’s economy in an inclusive way. Crosswhite chairs Prosper’s board of directors. Crosswhite became president and CEO of Alabama Power in March 2014, returning to Alabama Power from Southern Company where he served as chief operating officer. Crosswhite, from 2010 to 2012, served as president and CEO of Florida-based Gulf Power, a Southern Company subsidiary at the time. From 2008 until he moved to Gulf Power, Crosswhite served as executive vice president for External Affairs at Alabama Power, where he directed regulatory affairs, economic and community development, public relations, environmental affairs, and governmental affairs. He began his Alabama Power career in 2006 as senior vice president and counsel, where he oversaw the company’s legal matters. Crosswhite joined Southern Company in 2004 as senior vice president and general counsel for Southern Company Generation. Before joining Southern Company, Crosswhite represented the company in private practice for 17 years. Crosswhite is a native of Decatur. His family’s deep roots in Alabama date to the early 19th century. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1984 from the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) and a Juris Doctor from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1987. Crosswhite serves on numerous corporate, civic, and nonprofit boards. Among the many honors he has received are the UAH Alumni of Achievement Award, A.G. Gaston Boys & Girls Club’s A.G. Gaston Vision Award, the Alabama Organized Labor Awards Foundation Friend of Labor, and the Birmingham Business Journal’s 2020 Executive of the Decade. He is co-chair of Gov. Kay Ivey’s 2023 inaugural committee.
Alabama woman jailed for using drugs while pregnant sues; was never pregnant
A woman who was jailed for allegedly using drugs during pregnancy filed a lawsuit against the Etowah County sheriff’s office, arguing she was never pregnant, AL.com reported. The lawsuit filed by Stacey Freeman alleges that investigators placed a child’s words over medical confirmation. According to the lawsuit, Freeman was under investigation by the Department of Human Resources for substance use when one of her children told a social worker her mom was pregnant. Freeman offered to take a pregnancy test, and Etowah County Department of Human Resources employees entered an order for one. Freeman was never given the test, and Etowah County Sheriff Investigator Brandi Fuller issued a warrant for her arrest. In 2013, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled the chemical endangerment law applied to pregnant women and fetuses. At the time, the law was passed to protect children from the dangers of home meth labs. Now the law is used to arrest and imprison women, even if they end up delivering healthy babies. Freeman was arrested for chemical endangerment of a child and booked on February 1 into the Etowah County Detention Center. She was released about 36 hours after her arrest, and the charges were dropped. Her attorney Martin Weinberg argues that the ordeal was still embarrassing his client. “It’s just shameful you can go off somebody’s word that somebody’s pregnant,” Weinberg stated to AL.com. “It’s easy to verify through a pregnancy test.” The lawsuit names Fuller and Etowah County Sheriff Jonathon Horton. Freeman faced the standard bond conditions for chemical endangerment in Etowah County that required her to put up $10,000 cash and enter rehab. County officials have ended that practice in most cases following reports from AL.com that the practice was being carried out excessively. According to AL.com, police arrested Ashley Banks on May 25 with a small amount of marijuana and a pistol without a permit to carry. Banks admitted to smoking pot on the same day she found out she was pregnant – two days before her arrest. In Etowah County, that meant she couldn’t leave jail unless she entered drug rehab. She was held in jail for three months. The lawsuit argues that Fuller has been involved in “an obscene number of arrests for pregnant and postpartum women.” Research by Pregnancy Justice found that Etowah County arrested and prosecuted more women for drug use during pregnancy than any other county in the state. More than 150 women have been identified by their researchers, and Fuller was involved in most cases. “Pregnant women and new mothers should never have been unconstitutionally detained in the Etowah County Jail for a single day, let alone for months on end,” said Emma Roth, Staff Attorney with Pregnancy Justice and lead attorney on Pregnancy Justice’s Etowah cases. “While we’re thrilled they’re finally being released, the trauma inflicted on them and their young children from their prolonged separation can never be undone. Etowah County’s policy change is a meaningful first step, but Pregnancy Justice will not stop fighting until substance use, and pregnancy is treated as a matter of public health, not a reason to put mothers behind bars.” “The Sheriff’s department and its employees have been reckless in investigating in making arrests of women for chemical endangerment and then encouraging their prosecution,” the lawsuit said. The lawsuit alleges false imprisonment, defamation, and negligence by the Etowah County Sheriff’s Department. It said investigators relied on the word of a minor child and failed to confirm the facts before arresting and jailing Freeman. As a result, Freeman suffered public humiliation. Her charges have been dropped, but they haven’t been expunged, so the case remains available as a public record. The warrant incorrectly states that Freeman tested positive for marijuana, amphetamines, and alcohol while pregnant. “It’s good that the charges were dropped,” Weinberg said. “But there’s harm in someone even being arrested and spending two days in jail. Wrongful arrest and malicious arrest is problematic on its own.” Alabama has long led the nation in arrests of women who use drugs during pregnancy, although reporting by The Marshall Project, The Frontier, and AL.com finds this approach is spreading to other states, including Oklahoma and South Carolina.
Steve Marshall joins AGs demanding health-care worker COVID vaccine mandate ends
Attorneys general from 22 states are urging the Biden Administration to end its mandate requiring healthcare workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine if they’re employed by operators receiving Medicare and Medicaid funding. The 37-page petition was filed Thursday under the Administrative Procedure Act. It calls on the U.S. Department for Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to do away with a rule that went into effect more than a year ago. At that time, federal officials said the vaccine mandate was necessary to protect the health of workers, patients, residents, and others. However, the attorneys general say CMS exceeded its authority when it made the rule. They claim the mandate violates the spending clause of the U.S. Constitution, which threatens states from receiving essential funding if they do not comply with the rule. In Kentucky, for example, the state received more than $12 billion in Medicare and Medicaid funding from the federal government, which equals more than a quarter of the state’s budget. Further, the attorneys general argue there was no conclusive data at that time that the vaccines would prevent COVID-19 from spreading. “Indeed, fully vaccinated individuals contracted and transmitted COVID-19,” the petition states. “That trend has continued – even with the introduction of first-generation boosters and the new, bivalent Omicron booster. This data merely confirms what CMS should have known in November 2021 – full vaccination doesn’t prevent infection or transmission.” Instead, they claim the vaccines have enhanced health risks among “normally healthy” people and that mandating vaccinations has been a “flawed” policy. The petition also cites a New York state court ruling last month for 16 New York City sanitation workers who were fired because they did not get the vaccine. As a result of the vaccine mandate, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said health-care facilities have seen massive staffing shortages that put people at risk of losing access to the care they need. “Lifting the CMS vaccine mandate would allow healthcare facilities to rehire healthcare workers who left the industry due to the mandate and alleviate the burnout so many existing healthcare workers are experiencing,” he added. Other states represented in the petition include Arizona, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming. Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
Daniel Sutter: Economic freedom in Alabama 2022
Canada’s Fraser Institute just released the 2022 Economic Freedom of North America (EFNA) index. The good news: Alabama’s economic freedom increased slightly. The bad news: we still trail three neighboring states. Economic freedom refers to freedoms to buy, sell, work, and start businesses. A free economy relies on “personal choice and markets to answer basic economic questions such as what is to be produced, how it is to be produced, how much is produced, and for whom is production intended.” Free markets presumably produce prosperity; measuring how closely economies approach the free market ideal is crucial to testing the markets and prosperity hypothesis. The state economic freedom index involves ten component variables aggregated into three areas: government spending, taxation, and labor market freedom. Each component is scored from 0 to 10, with 10 being the highest observed amount of freedom and 0 the least. A state’s score averages the three area scores. The 2022 rankings use data from 2020 due to lags in the compilation and publication of some components. Alabama’s economic freedom score is 6.41, up slightly from, and ranks 22nd. The top-rated state is Florida, with a score of 7.94, while New York ranks last at 4.25. We rank 32nd on government spending, 9th on taxation, and 22nd on labor market freedom. Our rank is respectable but trails three of our neighbors. Florida, as mentioned, ranks 1st, Tennessee ties for 4th, and Georgia is 8th; we beat only #37 Mississippi. Competition between states is real, so trailing our neighbors might affect the recruitment of businesses to Alabama. Choices must be made in constructing any metric, and we should ask if plausible alternative choices might affect our score. The minimum wage is one component of labor market freedom. Alabama does not have a state minimum wage and prohibits cities from imposing their own. Yet we do not get a score of 10 on this component because the index applies the Federal minimum wage in states without a minimum wage. Labor market freedom also includes the percentage of unionized workers. The EFNA does not use Right-to-Work status of states. Unions, in principle, are voluntary organizations, but the government often sets the rules for unionization to favor unions. Our score for this component exceeds the national average but would be better if adjusted for Right-to-Work. The average score for states increased slightly from 2019, from 6.13 to 6.23. By contrast, Fraser’s Economic Freedom of the World (EFW) reported declines due to the COVID-19 response. Why the difference? The EFNA compiles two state freedom measures, one including national policies to parallel EFW ratings and one using state policies. My discussion above refers to the state-focused metric. The EFNA scores, including national policies, declined since the COVID policies affecting measured economic freedom – trillions in spending, money supply growth, and restrictions on international travel – originated in Washington. States enacted stay-at-home orders and closed businesses and schools, but these do not enter the economic freedom index. Yet many regulations were also relaxed during the pandemic, like to-go alcohol sales by restaurants, occupational licensing, and telehealth. The EFNA also misses this deregulation. The pandemic highlights a weakness in the EFNA, not accounting for state constitutional limits. Alabama has a state income tax, but our constitution limits the maximum rate. This provides greater certainty regarding future policy than in a state with a similar top tax rate and no constitutional cap. Alabama’s constitution also limits the maximum rate and base for the property tax. America’s founders thought that true freedom meant that government could not infringe on freedom. If government can take your property but chooses not to, your property arguably is not yours by right. The Bill of Rights prohibits Congress from trespassing on our rights. Many Americans were shocked by state business closures and stay-at-home orders. The lack of constitutional limits on emergency powers compromises our property rights and personal freedom. These constitutional infirmities should be addressed before the next pandemic. Daniel Sutter is the Charles G. Koch Professor of Economics with the Manuel H. Johnson Center for Political Economy at Troy University and host of Econversations on TrojanVision. The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of Troy University.
Court hears arguments on Alabama trans youth treatment ban
Alabama asked an appellate court Friday to let the state outlaw the use of puberty blockers and hormones to treat transgender children — a move some parents argued violates their right to make decisions about their children’s health care. A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in Alabama’s appeal of a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the first-of-its-kind law that would make it a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, to give the medications to assist transgender minors in their transition. The arguments in Alabama come three months after the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to keep similar Arkansas law on hold. The bans have become a flashpoint as Republican-controlled legislatures advanced bills to not only block medical treatment but also ban transgender children from using school restrooms or playing on sports teams that don’t correspond with their sex at birth. Jeff Doss, an attorney representing five parents and a pediatrician who challenged the law, urged the court to keep the ban on hold. He said the law is discriminatory, and Alabama took the “unprecedented” step of trying to criminalize the accepted standard of care for a medical condition. “If parental freedom means anything, it means that a parent, not the state, should decide whether their child receives life-saving medical intervention, consistent with the standard of care,” Doss said. Doss said after court that “it should be chilling for everyone” that the state is trying to tell parents, “we know best, and we are the ones who are going to make this decision for you parents.” Edmund LaCour, Alabama’s solicitor general, argued that the state has the authority to regulate medical treatments it deems risky. He disputed arguments that the law discriminated against transgender individuals because the drugs are still available to everyone, just not “to affect a cosmetic sex change” “The law does not prohibit any sort of therapy. It doesn’t require that males go by he or that girls wear dresses. All it does is target the risky treatments,” LaCour said. LaCour, at one point, asked judges to imagine if children wanted to use skin grafts, a treatment for severe burns, to change their race. Doing so would just be too risky, he argued. Multiple medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association, oppose the ban. The U.S. Justice Department has also opposed the ban as unconstitutional. Fifteen states filed briefs supporting Alabama’s efforts to ban the treatments. The appellate judges did not indicate when they will rule. U.S. Circuit Judge Andrew Brasher, who was Alabama’s solicitor general before he was appointed to a federal judgeship, asked both sides if the law amounted to sex discrimination and if the state had other regulation options, short of an outright ban, if it was concerned about the possible overuse of the medications. Arkansas was the first state to enact such a treatment ban. A federal judge last year blocked the Arkansas law from going into effect, and the appellate court upheld the decision. A trial began last month in the lawsuit seeking to permanently strike down the ban. The Alabama law, dubbed the Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act, went further in putting criminal penalties of people who provide the medications. U.S. District Judge Liles Burke in May issued a preliminary injunction to stop Alabama from enforcing the medication ban. Burke did not block a portion of the law banning sex-altering surgeries for minors, which doctors testified are not performed in Alabama. He also left in place a provision that requires counselors and other school officials to tell parents if a minor discloses that they think they are transgender. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey at the time called Burke’s ruling blocking the medication ban a “temporary legal roadblock.” The trial in the ongoing litigation is expected next year, attorneys said. Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
Alabama fails to complete lethal injection for 3rd time
Alabama’s string of troubled lethal injections, which worsened late Thursday as prison workers aborted another execution because of a problem with intravenous lines, is unprecedented nationally, a group that tracks capital punishment said Friday. The uncompleted execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith was the state’s second such instance of being unable to kill an inmate in the past two months and its third since 2018. The state completed an execution in July, but only after a three-hour delay caused at least partly by the same problem with starting an IV line. A leader at the Death Penalty Information Center, an anti-death penalty group with a large database on executions, said no state other than Alabama has had to halt an execution in progress since 2017, when Ohio halted Alva Campbell’s lethal injection because workers couldn’t find a vein. According to Ngozi Ndulue, deputy director of the Washington-based group, the only other lethal injection stopped before an inmate died also was in Ohio in 2009. “So Alabama has more aborted lethal injections in the past few years than the rest of the country has overall,” she said. Something has obviously gone wrong with the state’s execution procedure, Ndulue said. “I think Alabama clearly has some explaining to do, but also some reflection to do about what is going wrong in its execution process,” she said. “The question is whether Alabama is going to take that seriously.” The Alabama Department of Corrections disputed that the cancellation was a reflection of problems. In a statement, it blamed the late-running court action for the cancellation because prison officials “had a short timeframe to complete its protocol.” Prison officials said they called off Smith’s execution for the night after they were unable to get the lethal injection underway within the 100-minute window between the courts clearing the way for it to begin and a midnight deadline when the death warrant expired for the day. The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for Smith’s execution when at about 10:20 p.m., it lifted a stay issued earlier in the evening by the 11th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals. But the state decided about an hour later that the lethal injection would not happen that evening. “We have no concerns about the state’s ability to carry out future lethal injection procedures,” the Alabama Department of Corrections said in an emailed statement. “The department will continue to review its processes, as it routinely does following each execution, to identify areas of improvement.” Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey also blamed Smith’s last-minute appeals as the reason “justice could not be carried out” U.S District Judge R. Austin Huffaker Jr. on Friday granted a request from Smith’s lawyers to visit with Smith and take photographs of his body. He also ordered the state to preserve notes and other materials related to what happened in the failed execution. Smith’s attorneys said they believe he may have been strapped to a gurney for four hours even though his final appeals were still underway. “Mr. Smith no doubt has injuries from the attempted execution — and certainly physical and testimonial evidence that needs to be preserved — that can and should be photographed and/or filmed,” lawyers for Smith wrote. Smith, who was scheduled to be put to death for the murder-for-hire slaying of a preacher’s wife in 1988, was returned to death row at Holman Prison after surviving the attempt, a prison official said. His lawyers declined to comment Friday morning. Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said prison staff tried for about an hour to get the two required intravenous lines connected to Smith, 57. Hamm said they established one line but were unsuccessful with a second line, which is required under the state’s protocol as a backup, after trying several locations on Smith’s body. Officials then tried a central line, which involves a catheter placed into a large vein. “We were not able to have time to complete that, so we called off the execution,” Hamm said. The initial postponement came after Smith’s final appeals focused on problems with IV lines at Alabama’s last two scheduled lethal injections. Because the death warrant expired at midnight, the state must go back to court to seek a new execution date. Advocacy groups and defense lawyers said Alabama’s continued problems show a need for a moratorium to investigate how the death penalty is carried out in the state. “Once again, the state of Alabama has shown that it is not capable of carrying out the present execution protocol without torture,” federal defender John Palombi, who has represented many death row inmates in the state, said via email Prosecutors said Smith was one of two men who were each paid $1,000 to kill Elizabeth Sennett on behalf of her husband, who was deeply in debt and wanted to collect the insurance. The slaying — and the revelations of who was behind it — rocked the small north Alabama community where it happened in Colbert County and inspired a song called “The Fireplace Poker,” by the Southern rock group Drive-By Truckers. John Forrest Parker, the other man convicted in the slaying, was executed in 2010. Alabama has faced scrutiny over its problems at recent lethal injections. In ongoing litigation, lawyers for inmates are seeking information about the qualifications of the execution team members responsible for connecting the lines. In a Thursday hearing in Smith’s case, a federal judge asked the state how long was too long to try to establish a line, noting at least one state gives an hour limit. The execution of Joe Nathan James Jr. in July took several hours to get underway because of problems establishing an IV line, leading Reprieve US Forensic Justice Initiative, an anti-death penalty group, to claim the execution was botched. In September, the state called off the scheduled execution of Alan Miller because of difficulty accessing his veins. Miller said in a court filing that prison staff poked him with needles for more than an hour, and at one point, left him hanging vertically on a gurney before announcing they were
