Alabama man faces 2nd execution date this year for killing
An Alabama man who avoided execution in February was scheduled to be put to death Thursday for the 1991 killing of a woman taken at gunpoint from an ATM location and shot in a cemetery. Willie B. Smith III, 52, was scheduled to receive a lethal injection at a southwest Alabama prison for his conviction in the kidnapping and murder of 22-year-old Sharma Ruth Johnson. The state prepared to carry out the execution Thursday evening after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a request to halt the plan. Prosecutors said Smith had a shotgun when he abducted Johnson in October 1991 from an ATM location in Birmingham. He withdrew money using her bank card and then took her to a cemetery and shot her in the back of the head. Johnson was the sister of a Birmingham police officer. This is Smith’s second execution date this year. Last Feb. 11 — while Smith was in a holding cell near Alabama’s death chamber — the state called off a lethal injection when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an injunction affirming he could not be executed unless allowed to have his pastor by his side. The Alabama prison system has now said Smith will be able to have his pastor with him Thursday in the death chamber. Smith’s lawyers had argued he has an intellectual disability that prevented him from understanding the prison paperwork related to selection of an execution method. They asked justices to stop the lethal injection. Experts have estimated Smith’s IQ from 64 on the low end and 75 on the high end, but courts have ruled he is eligible for the death penalty. A defense expert in a post-trial appeal said while Smith’s IQ was measured at 64, his language, reading, and mathematics skills, and that these particular results were inconsistent with a diagnosis of intellectual disability. The Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that executing intellectually disabled people is unconstitutional. In reviewing Smith’s case in 2019, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a later Supreme Court decision that “states may not weigh a defendant’s adaptive strengths against his adaptive deficits” in determining disability did not retroactively apply to Smith. Last-minute court filings centered on whether Smith should have been given assistance to understand the form distributed to death row inmates in 2018 regarding the selection of an execution method. After adopting nitrogen hypoxia as an execution method, state law gave inmates a 30-day window to request that as their preferred execution method. If Smith had requested nitrogen hypoxia, his death sentence could not be carried out to date because the state has not yet developed a system for using nitrogen to execute inmates. Smith’s attorneys had unsuccessfuly asked the Supreme Court to stay the execution by lethal injection until a trial could be held in his ongoing lawsuit arguing that the Americans with Disabilities Act required him to have assistance in understanding the form. While the 11th Circuit denied the stay request, one member of the three-judge panel sharply criticized Alabama. Circuit Judge Jill Pryor wrote in a concurring opinion the state has acknowledged Smith has “significantly subaverage intellectual functioning” and that Smith said he received no explanation of the form related to execution method selection. “It disturbs me that ADOC, which took on the responsibility to inform prisoners about their right to elect death by nitrogen hypoxia within 30 days, did so in such a feckless way,” Pryor wrote. The state of Alabama argued that Smith had access to his lawyers for help in requesting nitrogen. The Department of Corrections changed some procedures in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The prison system limited media witnesses to the execution to one journalist, a representative from The Associated Press. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Judge denies request to block lethal injection in Alabama
A federal judge has declined to block Thursday’s scheduled execution of an Alabama inmate convicted of the 1991 kidnap and murder of a woman abducted outside an automatic teller machine. U.S. Chief District Judge Emily Marks on Sunday denied a request for a preliminary injunction sought by lawyers for Willie B. Smith III. Smith is scheduled to receive a lethal injection on Thursday at a south Alabama prison. His lawyers argued that Smith, whose IQ has been measured in the 70s, should have been given help to understand prison paperwork related to the selection of an execution method. Marks was directed Friday by the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to consider the injunction request. Marks denied the injunction request Sunday after ruling that Smith was not likely to prevail in the lawsuit brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Court records indicate his attorneys are appealing. Smith was convicted of the abduction and slaying of Sharma Ruth Johnson, 22. Prosecutors said Smith abducted Johnson at gunpoint from an ATM in Birmingham, stole $80 from her, and then took her to a cemetery where he shot her in the back of the head. Lethal injection is the main execution method used in Alabama. But after lawmakers authorized nitrogen hypoxia as an execution method in 2018, the new law gave death row inmates a 30-day window to select nitrogen hypoxia as their execution method. Smith did not turn in the form selecting nitrogen. That laid the groundwork for the state to carry out plans for his execution by lethal injection on Thursday. The state has not developed a system for executing inmates by nitrogen. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Ruling could block Alabama execution scheduled next week
An appellate court on Friday ordered a judge to consider a request to block an Alabama execution next week as attorneys argue the low-IQ inmate should have been given help understanding the prison paperwork that laid the groundwork for the planned lethal injection. The three-judge panel directed the district court to decide a request for a preliminary injunction to prevent the state from executing Willie B. Smith III on Thursday. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a federal judge prematurely dismissed a lawsuit arguing that Smith was due help under the Americans with Disabilities Act in understanding paperwork related to execution method selection. The panel ruled a judge erred in saying Smith did not have standing to bring the claim. Lawyers for Smith said he has an IQ in the 70s and should have received help under the 1990 act that bars discrimination against those with disabilities. Thursday’s execution date and plan is still in place. However, John Palombi, an attorney for Smith said the decision requires the district court judge to decide whether to issue a preliminary injunction. “If the motion for preliminary injunction is granted, it would stop Mr. Smith’s execution and allow this case, which was filed long before the State asked for an execution date for Mr. Smith, to continue with discovery and depositions and go to trial as scheduled in June 2022,” Palombi wrote in an email. Smith was convicted of the 1991 kidnapping and murder of Sharma Ruth Johnson, 22. Prosecutors said Smith abducted Johnson at gunpoint from an ATM in Birmingham, stole $80 from her and then took her to a cemetery where he shot her in the back of the head. The 11th Circuit ruling centered on what, if any, obligations the state had in helping state inmates understand a brief window in which they could change their requested execution method. Lethal injection is the main execution method used in Alabama. But after lawmakers authorized nitrogen hypoxia as an execution method in 2018, the new law gave death row inmates a 30-day window to select nitrogen hypoxia as their execution method. The Federal Defenders for the Middle District of Alabama, who defend death row inmates but weren’t representing Smith at the time, drafted an election form for their clients to request nitrogen. The prison warden later gave every death row inmate a copy of the form. Smith did not turn in a form selecting nitrogen, paving the way for the state to execute him next week by lethal injection. The state has not developed a procedure for using nitrogen as an execution method, and at least for now is not scheduling executions with nitrogen hypoxia. The state argued Smith could not bring the claim because Smith never gave any indication that he wanted to request nitrogen. Smith also had a conversation with his then-lawyer in 2018 when the form was distributed, an attorney for the state told the judges. “The evidence is he talked to his lawyer in June: Nothing,” Alabama solicitor general Edmund G. LaCour told the panel during arguments Wednesday “He did have access to assistance. It’s plain as day.” This is Alabama’s second attempt this year to carry out Smith’s death sentence. The state called off a prior execution plan last Feb. 12 after the U.S. Supreme Court maintained an injunction saying he could not be put to death without his pastor present. The reprieve came the same night of his scheduled lethal injection as he waited in a holding cell near the death chamber. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Mental capacity at issue as Alabama man faces execution date
Federal judges heard arguments Wednesday about whether an Alabama inmate had the mental capacity to understand the paperwork setting up his planned execution next week, with a defense lawyer arguing the man’s cognitive deficiencies warranted disability assistance. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is considering an appeal by Willie B. Smith III, who was convicted of a woman’s 1991 kidnap and killing. His lawyer said the man has an IQ in the 70s and should have received help under the Americans with Disabilities Act to understand a form related to the selection of an execution method. Smith is scheduled to receive a lethal injection on October 21 in the death of Sharma Ruth Johnson, 22. Prosecutors said Smith abducted Johnson at gunpoint from an ATM in Birmingham, stole $80 from her, and then took her to a cemetery where he shot her in the back of the head. This is Alabama’s second attempt this year to carry out Smith’s death sentence. The state called off prior execution plans last February 12 after the U.S. Supreme Court maintained an injunction saying he could not be put to death without his pastor present. The reprieve came the same night of his scheduled lethal injection as he waited in a holding cell near the death chamber. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, also known as ADA, prohibits discrimination based on disability. Smith’s attorneys argued a federal judge wrongly dismissed a lawsuit last month involving the claims about his needing assistance under the federal disabilities act. But the state maintained it was the legally correct decision. Wednesday’s oral arguments centered on what, if any, obligations the state had in helping state inmates understand a brief window in which they could change their requested execution method. “He will be executed by lethal injection in eight days if he does not prevail in this lawsuit,” attorney Spencer Hahn told the appellate panel Wednesday. “Mr. Smith had, and has, cognitive deficiencies such that he could not and can not make the decision to elect a method of execution without reasonable accommodation.” Lethal injection is the main execution method used in Alabama. But after lawmakers authorized nitrogen hypoxia as an execution method in 2018, the new law gave death row inmates a 30-day window to select nitrogen hypoxia as their execution method. The Federal Defenders for the Middle District of Alabama, who defend death row inmates but weren’t representing Smith at the time, drafted an election form for their clients to request nitrogen. The prison warden later gave every death row inmate a copy of the form. Smith did not turn in a form selecting nitrogen. The state has not developed a procedure for using nitrogen as an execution method, and at least for now, is not scheduling executions with nitrogen hypoxia. In dismissing the lawsuit last month, a judge said that the “form was not required, directed, or sanctioned” by state law and “for the entire month of June 2018, both before and after this form was distributed, Smith had the ability to opt into execution by nitrogen hypoxia through any writing he chose.” Smith’s attorneys in their appeal questioned how an “inmate who has been segregated and locked-down; 23 hours a day for almost 30 years with, at best, an IQ of 72 could have and should have known about a change in Alabama law.” Attorneys for the state have disputed that Smith is disabled. The state has argued that the form was not required by state law, and Smith never gave any indication that he wanted to request nitrogen. Smith also had a conversation with his then-lawyer in 2018 when the form was distributed, an attorney for the state told the judges. “The evidence is he talked to his lawyer in June: Nothing,” Alabama solicitor general Edmund G. LaCour told the panel. “He did have access to assistance. It’s plain as day.”
Alabama sets new execution date for inmate for 1991 murder
Alabama has rescheduled the execution of a state inmate who had a lethal injection called off in February when the U.S. Supreme Court sided with his request to have his personal pastor with him in the death chamber. The Alabama Supreme Court set an Oct. 21 execution date for 51-year-old Willie B. Smith III, who was convicted of the 1991 kidnapping and murder of 22-year-old Sharma Ruth Johnson in Birmingham. In February, the state called off Smith’s execution on the night he was to have been put to death. The decision came after the U.S. Supreme Court maintained a lower court injunction, saying he could not be executed without his personal spiritual advisor present in the room with him. The state at the time maintained only prison staff would be allowed in the room. Alabama officials wrote in a court filing that the state recognized “its policy restricting access to the execution chamber to institutional chaplains was unlikely to survive further litigation” and “reached an agreement with Smith to allow his spiritual advisor to minister to him in the chamber.” The Alabama Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to an email asking about the change in procedures. Prosecutors said Smith abducted Johnson at gunpoint from an ATM, stole $80 from her, and then took her to a cemetery where he shot her in the back of the head. The victim was the sister of a police detective. “The murder of Ms. Johnson, which was committed during the course of a robbery and kidnapping, was as brutal as they come, and there is no doubt that Smith committed those offenses,” lawyers with the attorney general’s office wrote in the request to set the execution date. The Alabama Supreme Court set an October execution date for Smith even though a judge has scheduled a 2022 trial on claims related to his intellectual capacity. His lawyers have argued the state failed to give Smith, who has an IQ below 75, required assistance under the Americans with Disabilities Act in filling out forms that affected the timing of his execution. “We are disappointed that the attorney general asked for and the Alabama Supreme Court set a date for Mr. Smith’s execution despite the fact that a lawsuit he filed two years ago is progressing through discovery and is set for trial early next year,” federal defender John Palombi wrote in an email. Palombi added, “The state is attempting to moot this lawsuit out before his case can be heard. We will continue to fight against this premature attempt to execute Mr. Smith.” The Alabama attorney general’s office has disputed that Smith’s rights were violated.+ Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Alabama to allow spiritual advisor at inmate’s execution
Alabama is amending its lethal injection procedures to allow a condemned inmate to have his spiritual advisor in the execution chamber, state lawyers wrote in a Thursday court filing. The move comes after the U.S. Supreme Court this month sided with Alabama inmate Willie B. Smith III who had sought to have his pastor in the chamber. Alabama, which had previously argued that only prison staff should be allowed in the chamber for security reason, canceled Smith’s execution. “In light of the Supreme Court’s decision in this matter, however, Defendant is in the process of amending the ADOC’s lethal injection protocol to permit a condemned inmate to have his spiritual advisor in the execution chamber,” lawyers with the Alabama attorney general’s office wrote in a court filing. A spokeswoman for the Alabama Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The filing did not give additional details about the state’s plan, including how long the spiritual adviser can stay in the chamber and if they will be present when the execution begins. In past lethal injections, the state allowed a prison chaplain to remain in the chamber. Smith’s scheduled Feb. 11 execution was called off by Alabama officials after Supreme Court justices maintained an injunction issued by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, saying he could not be executed without his pastor present in chamber. “Alabama has not carried its burden of showing that the exclusion of all clergy members from the execution chamber is necessary to ensure prison security. So the State cannot now execute Smith without his pastor present, to ease what Smith calls the ‘transition between the worlds of the living and the dead,’” Justice Elena Kagan wrote in a writing joined by three other justices, including Amy Coney Barrett. The Alabama case was the latest in a series of legal fights over personal spiritual advisers at executions. Justice Brett Kavanaugh suggested in a dissent in the Smith case that states that want to avoid continuing litigation on the issue “should figure out a way to allow spiritual advisors into the execution room, as other states and the federal government have done.” The court in 2019 halted the execution of a Texas inmate who claimed his religious freedom would be violated if his Buddhist spiritual adviser was not allowed to be in the death chamber with him. In the past, Alabama routinely put a Christian prison chaplain, who was employed by the state, in the execution chamber to pray with an inmate if requested. The state stopped that practice after a Muslim inmate asked to have an imam present. The prison system, which did not have Muslim cleric on staff, said non-prison staff would not be allowed in the chamber. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Religion and the death penalty collide at the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court is sending a message to states that want to continue to carry out the death penalty: Inmates must be allowed to have a spiritual adviser by their side as they are executed. The high court around midnight Thursday declined to let Alabama proceed with the lethal injection of Willie B. Smith III. Smith had objected to Alabama’s policy that his pastor would have had to observe his execution from an adjacent room rather than the death chamber itself. The order from the high court follows two years in which inmates saw some rare success in bringing challenges based on the issue of chaplains in the death chamber. This time, liberal and conservative members of the court normally in disagreement over death penalty issues found common ground not on the death penalty itself but on the issue of religious freedom and how the death penalty is carried out. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, one of three justices who said they would have let Smith’s execution go forward, said Alabama’s policy applies equally to all inmates and serves a state interest in ensuring safety and security. But he said it was apparent that his colleagues who disagreed were providing a path for states to follow. States that want to avoid months or years of litigation over the presence of spiritual advisers “should figure out a way to allow spiritual advisors into the execution room, as other States and the Federal Government have done,” he wrote in a dissent joined by Chief Justice John Roberts. Justice Clarence Thomas also would have allowed the execution of Smith, who was sentenced to die for the 1991 murder of 22-year-old Sharma Ruth Johnson in Birmingham. Alabama had up until 2019 allowed a Christian prison chaplain employed by the state to be physically present in the execution chamber if requested by the inmate, but the state changed its policy in response to two earlier Supreme Court cases. Robert Dunham, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, says the court’s order will most clearly affect states in the Deep South that have active execution chambers. Dunham said most state execution protocols, which set who is present in the death chamber, do not mention spiritual advisers. For most of the modern history of the U.S. death penalty since the 1970s, spiritual advisers have not been present in execution chambers, he said. The federal government, which under President Donald Trump resumed federal executions following a 17-year hiatus and carried out 13 executions, allowed a spiritual adviser to be present in the death chamber. The Biden administration is still weighing how it will proceed in death penalty cases. The court’s order in Smith’s case contained only statements from Kavanaugh and Justice Elena Kagan. “Willie Smith is sentenced to death, and his last wish is to have his pastor with him as he dies,” Kagan wrote for herself and liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer, as well as conservative Amy Coney Barrett. Kagan added: “Alabama has not carried its burden of showing that the exclusion of all clergy members from the execution chamber is necessary to ensure prison security.” Justice Neil Gorsuch and Justice Samuel Alito did not make public their views, but at least one or perhaps both of them must have voted with their liberal colleagues to keep Smith’s execution on hold. The court’s yearslong wrestling with the issue of chaplains in the death chamber began in 2019, when the justices declined to halt the execution of Alabama inmate Domineque Ray. Ray had objected that a Christian chaplain employed by the prison typically remained in the execution chamber during a lethal injection, but the state would not let his imam be present. The next month, however, the justices halted the execution of a Texas inmate, Patrick Murphy, who objected after Texas officials wouldn’t allow his Buddhist spiritual adviser in the death chamber. Kavanaugh wrote at the time that states have two choices: Allow all inmates to have a religious adviser of their choice in the execution room or allow that person only in an adjacent viewing room. In response, the Texas prison system changed its policy, allowing only prison security staff into the execution chamber. But in June, the high court kept Texas from executing Ruben Gutierrez after he objected to the new policy. Diana Verm, a lawyer at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which had submitted briefs in two of the spiritual adviser cases, said it was unusual for the court with its conservative majority to halt executions. “You can tell from some of the opinions that the justices don’t like the last-minute nature of execution litigation, but this is an area where they are saying: ’Listen … religious liberty has to be a part of the process if it’s going to happen,” Verm said. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Alabama would be 1st state to execute an inmate this year
Alabama would be the first state to carry out an execution this year if allowed to proceed with plans to put to death an inmate convicted in the shotgun slaying of a police detective’s sister decades ago. Alabama on Thursday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift an appellate court stay blocking the evening execution of Willie B. Smith III from taking place. The state also asked justices to vacate an injunction banning the state from proceeding with the execution unless Smith is allowed to have his personal pastor in the execution chamber with him. Smith’s lawyers asked the court to uphold both orders, which were issued by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Smith, 51, was scheduled to receive a lethal injection at a south Alabama prison for the 1991 murder of Sharma Ruth Johnson in Birmingham. Prosecutors said Smith abducted Johnson, 22, at gunpoint from an ATM, stole $80 from her, and then took her to a cemetery where he shot her in the back of the head. On Wednesday, judges on the 11th Circuit stayed the lethal injection to give time to consider defense claims that the state failed to give the man, who has an IQ below 75, required assistance with forms affecting the timing of his execution. The Alabama attorney general’s office in court filings disputed that Smith is disabled and called it a last-minute delaying maneuver. Appellate courts previously rejected Smith’s claims that he should not be executed because he is intellectually disabled. A defense team expert estimated his IQ at 64 while a prosecution expert placed it at 72. If the execution goes forward, it would be the first by a state in 2021 and one of the few at the state level since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last year. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, no state has had an execution since last July 8. The 11th Circuit also issued a separate injunction against the execution on religious grounds saying Alabama cannot execute Smith unless they allow his personal pastor in the execution chamber. In the past, Alabama routinely brought in a prison chaplain who would pray with an inmate if requested. The state stopped that practice after Muslim inmates asked to have an imam present, saying it would no longer allow non-prison staff in the chamber. The change undercut claims of unequal treatment between inmates of different faiths. Smith’s attorneys also argued that an execution would be a super-spreader event. Some COVID-19 cases have been linked to recent federal executions. The Department of Corrections has changed some procedures in the face of the pandemic. The prison system is limiting media witnesses to one journalist, a representative from The Associated Press. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Alabama set to carry out its first execution during pandemic
Alabama is preparing to execute an inmate by lethal injection in what would be the state’s first death sentence carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic. Willie B. Smith III, 51, is scheduled to be put to death Thursday at a south Alabama prison for the 1991 shotgun slaying of Sharma Ruth Johnson. It would be the first execution carried out by any state in 2021, although there have been federal executions, according to a list maintained by the Death Penalty Information Center. U.S. District Judge Austin Huffaker, Jr. on Tuesday denied Smith’s lawyers request for a stay. The Alabama Supreme Court ruled the execution could go forward with precautions. Smith’s attorneys have sought a stay arguing that the pandemic and the prohibition on in-person prison visits had made it difficult for them to adequately represent him. They said Smith has been unable to receive the number of in-person visits from attorneys, friends, and a pastor that death row inmates normally do before their date in the execution chamber. The prison system said Smith could have contact visitation during the week preceding his execution. Attorneys also argued the execution would be a super-spreader event. Some COVID-19 cases have been linked to recent federal executions. The Alabama attorney general’s office wrote in court filings that the state is no longer under a stay-at-home order and said carrying out executions is one of the functions of state government. “The State is open, and its agencies are expected to function. One of the State’s functions is to ensure that justice is carried out in a timely fashion by performing executions of those inmates on death row who have exhausted their appeals,” the Alabama attorney general’s office wrote. The Department of Corrections has changed some procedures in the face of the pandemic. The prison system is limiting media witnesses to the execution to a single reporter, a representative from The Associated Press. Prosecutors said Smith abducted Johnson at gunpoint in October 1991 as she waited to use an ATM in Birmingham, forced her into the trunk of a car, and withdrew $80 using her bank card. Prosecutors said he then took her to a cemetery where he shot her in the back of the head and later returned to set the car on fire. A jury convicted Smith in 1992 in the death of Johnson, who was the sister of a Birmingham police detective. Appellate courts rejected Smith’s claims on appeal, including that his lawyers provided ineffective assistance at trial and that he should not be executed because he is intellectually disabled. Court records indicate a defense team expert estimated his IQ at 64 while a prosecution expert pegged it at 72. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
