Capital punishment in Alabama is a legal penalty. Alabama has the highest per capita capital sentencing rate in the United States. In some years, its courts impose more death sentences than Texas, a state that has a population five times as large. [1] However, Texas has a higher rate of executions both in absolute terms and per capita. [2]
When the prosecution seeks the death penalty, the sentence is decided by the jury and at least 10 jurors must concur. [3]
In case of a hung jury during the penalty phase of the trial, a retrial happens before another jury. [4]
In 2023, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that, when a condemned person appeals, the appellate court does not have to actively look for errors in the original judgment and only has to consider constitutional violations if the objection was already raised at trial. Previously, through 2022, appellate courts had been required to search for errors in the original judgment and to consider any constitutional violations that may have occurred at trial, regardless of whether the trial lawyer had objected. [5]
For cases prior to 2017, the sole determinant of the sentence was the sentencing judge who had the authority to override the jury's recommendation provided it was given appropriate weight. [6] Prospectively, from 2017, the judge must abide by the verdict of the jury. The law is not retroactive.
The power of clemency belongs to the Governor of Alabama. [7]
The method of execution is lethal injection, unless the condemned requests electrocution or nitrogen hypoxia. If the selected method (whether chosen by the offender or by default) is found unconstitutional, state statutes provide the use of "any constitutional method of execution", which would likely include hanging, the gas chamber or firing squad. [8]
In February 2023, following a review of failed lethal injections, Governor Kay Ivey said executions would resume. [9] The first occurred on July 21, 2023. [10]
The following kinds of murder are punishable by death in Alabama: [11]
Between 1812 and 1965, 708 people were executed in Alabama. Until 1927, hanging was the primary method of execution, although one person was put to death by firing squad.
In addition to murder, capital crimes in Alabama formerly included rape, arson, and robbery. [12] According to the Alabama Department of Corrections, 31 persons were executed by the state for crimes other than murder - including rape, robbery and burglary - between 1927 and 1959. [13] In Kennedy v. Louisiana , [14] the U.S. Supreme Court has essentially eliminated the death penalty for any crime at the state level except murder.
The 1972 U.S. Supreme Court case Furman v. Georgia, requiring a degree of consistency in the application of the death penalty, established a de facto moratorium on capital punishment across the United States. That moratorium remained until July 2, 1976, when Gregg v. Georgia decided how states could impose death sentences without violating the Eighth Amendment's ban against cruel and unusual punishment. Alabama passed legislation reinstating use of the death penalty on March 25, 1976, when Alabama's legislature passed, and Governor George Wallace signed, a new death penalty statute. No execution under this law was carried out until 1983.
Holman Correctional Facility has a male death row that originally had a capacity of 20, but was expanded in the summer of 2000 with the addition of 200 single cells in the segregation unit. [15] The William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility has a male death row with a capacity of 24. [16] Donaldson's death row houses prisoners who need to stay in the Birmingham judicial district. [17] Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women houses the female death row. [18] All executions occur at Holman. [15]
In February 2018, Alabama carried out the botched attempted execution of Doyle Hamm. [19] [20] During the execution attempt, executioners attempted for nearly three hours to insert an IV that could be used to administer the lethal injection drugs. In the process, the execution team punctured Hamm's bladder and femoral artery, causing significant bleeding. [19] [21]
From 1983 to 2025, Alabama has executed 79 people. [13] As of February 2025, Alabama had 157 inmates on death row, the 4th highest number in the US. [22] Since 1976, only two death row inmates were granted clemency and had their death sentences commuted to life: outgoing Governor Fob James commuted Judith Ann Neelley's death sentence to life in prison in January 1999. [23] Another was in February 2025, when Robin Dion Myers, who was convicted of the 1991 murder of Ludie Mae Tucker, had his death sentence commuted to life without parole by Governor Kay Ivey after the Alabama Supreme Court authorized the setting of an execution date. [24] [25] [26]
In 2016, Jefferson County Circuit Judge Tracie Todd ruled that the Alabama capital murder provision allowing judges to issue the death penalty by overriding jury recommendations for life without parole to be unconstitutional. [27] In 2020, the Alabama Court of the Judiciary charged Todd with an ethics complaint lodged by the Judicial Inquiry Commission, [28] which accused the Birmingham judge of using her position to oppose and override the state death penalty. [29] Todd was suspended without pay for 90 days and then permitted to return to her duties as a judge. [30]
On September 22, 2022, Alabama planned to execute Alan Eugene Miller but canceled the execution after failing to find a suitable vein. [31] On November 17, 2022, Alabama similarly was unable to execute Kenneth Eugene Smith because the state corrections staff were unable to find a suitable vein. [32] Following several botched executions, Governor Kay Ivey paused all executions [33] until July 2023. [10] Smith's execution was rescheduled and carried out on January 25, 2024; it was the nation's first use of nitrogen gas as an execution method. [34] Smith had requested this method. [35] [36]
In late 2024, Matt Simpson, an Alabama politician, proposed a Death penalty bill for child rapists, that could ultimately challenge the precedent of Kennedy v. Louisiana. The bill is similar to the laws passed in Florida and Tennessee. [37] [38] [39] The Alabama House committee approved the bill in February 2025, [40] and it passed by an 86-5 vote (in addition to nine abstentions). The Bill was passed on to the Alabama Senate. [41]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)which also included a cellblock for 20 death row inmates." and "The death chamber is located at Holman where all executions are conducted." and "A major addition was completed in the summer of 2000 to add 200 single cells to the segregation unit. This addition was required to keep up with the increasing number of inmates on Death Row which had grown to more than 150.
Donaldson has a death row unit with a capacity of 24 inmates.
Tutwiler also has a death row
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)