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Attorney: Execution may be virus super-spreader, seeks delay

UC Berkeley

 
An Alabama lawyer has asked the courts to delay an execution because of the possible spread of COVID-19.
 
Fifty-one-year-old Willie Smith is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection next month at Holman Correctional Facility.
 
His attorney has asked for a delay in the execution because it could be a super-spreader event for the coronavirus. He also said it's difficult to prepare Smith's clemency petition due to no in-person visits being allowed.
 
Smith was convicted in the 1991 killing of Sharma Ruth Johnson. His execution is scheduled for Feb. 11.

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