A federal appeals court refused to stop an upcoming execution in Alabama, rejecting an inmate's argument that the state has a history of botched lethal injections. James Barber is scheduled to be put to death tonight at a south Alabama prison, in the first execution scheduled in the state since Gov. Kay Ivey paused them in November for an internal review.
Ivey ordered the review after two lethal injections were called off because of difficulties inserting IVs. Advocacy groups said a third execution, carried out after a delay because of IV problems, was botched, though the state disputes that.
A divided panel from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Barber's execution could proceed. The judges said the state conducted a review of execution procedures and his assertion that the "same pattern would continue to occur" was "purely speculative."
Barber was convicted in the 2001 beating death of 75-year-old Dorothy Epps. Prosecutors said Barber, a handyman who knew Epps' daughter, confessed to killing her with a claw hammer and fleeing with her purse.
"Given Alabama's recent history of botched executions, it is staggering that James Barber's lethal injection is set to take place," Maya Foa, director of the anti-death penalty group Reprieve, said. "Three executions in a row went horribly wrong in Alabama last year, yet officials have asserted that 'no deficiencies' were found in their execution process."
Barber could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"Defendants have failed to carry out a lethal injection execution in a constitutional manner not once, not twice, but three times in a row," lawyers for Barber wrote in its failed court filing with the 11th Circuit. "And all three failures suffered from the same underlying problem: protracted efforts to establish IV access."
"Mrs. Epps and her family have waited for justice for twenty-two years," the Alabama attorney general's office wrote in a court filing.
The state conducted an internal review of procedures. Ivey rebuffed requests from several groups, including a group of faith leaders, to follow the example of Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and authorize an independent review of the state's execution procedures.
One of the changes Alabama made following the internal review was to give the state more time to carry out the execution. The Alabama Supreme Court did away with its customary midnight deadline to get an execution underway in order to give the state more time to establish an IV line and battle last-minute legal appeals. The state will have until 6 a.m. Friday to start Barber's execution.
