Alabama executes James Barber, marking the state’s first lethal injection since the pause.
Alabama Executes Convicted Murderer James Barber
Convicted murderer James Barber was executed early Friday morning by the state of Alabama, marking the state’s first lethal injection since the temporary halt on capital punishment was lifted in February. This decision came after a thorough review of previous failed attempts.
Governor Kay Ivey (R-AL) had paused executions in November due to difficulties with IV insertions, as reported by the Associated Press. After conducting an internal review of the mishaps, the pause was lifted three months later, allowing lethal injections to resume. Despite Barber’s request to block his execution, citing concerns about past failures and potential harm, the U.S. Supreme Court denied his application in a 6-3 ruling. The three liberal justices dissented, arguing that Barber should not be Alabama’s “guinea pig.”
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall confirmed that Barber was executed shortly before 2 a.m. on Friday. The 64-year-old had been on death row for nearly two decades for the 2001 robbery and murder of Dorothy Epps, a 75-year-old homeowner whom Barber knew from his work as a handyman, according to NBC News.
“I have a fair amount of trepidation about the process that they obviously haven’t perfected — to be at their hands and be the first one after they didn’t do a true review of the protocol and made no real changes,” Barber expressed his fears about the execution method in an interview with the outlet last Saturday.
Originally scheduled for Thursday evening, Barber’s execution was delayed pending a Supreme Court ruling on whether it could proceed, as reported by local investigative reporter Lee Hedgepeth. The state’s lawyers argued that the highest court should not have taken up the case at all.
Renewed Debate on Capital Punishment
Barber’s execution has reignited the debate on the morality of capital punishment, as evidenced by the Supreme Court’s ruling that largely fell along partisan lines. Liberals tend to view it as unjust, believing in the possibility of rehabilitation even for the most violent offenders, while conservatives argue that it is a necessary measure in rare cases.
Currently, 27 states still have the death penalty, with three of them imposing a governor-imposed moratorium. On the other hand, 23 states have abolished capital punishment, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. While not an exact correlation, states leaning right, like Alabama, generally allow for capital punishment, while states leaning left tend to have abolished the practice.
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