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.
In case of a hung jury during the penalty phase of the trial, a retrial happens before another jury. [3]
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. [4]
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. [5] 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. [6]
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. [7]
In February 2023, following a review of failed lethal injections, Governor Kay Ivey said executions would resume. [8] The first occurred on July 21, 2023. [9]
The following kinds of murder are punishable by death in Alabama: [10]
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. [11] 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. [12] In Kennedy v. Louisiana , [13] 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. [14] The William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility has a male death row with a capacity of 24. [15] Donaldson's death row houses prisoners who need to stay in the Birmingham judicial district. [16] Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women houses the female death row. [17] All executions occur at Holman. [14]
In February 2018, Alabama carried out the botched attempted execution of Doyle Hamm. [18] [19] 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. [18] [20]
From 1983 to 2015, Alabama has executed 78 people. [12] As of December 2024, Alabama had 157 inmates on death row, the 4th highest number in the US. [21] A governor has commuted only one death sentence since 1976: outgoing Governor Fob James commuted Judith Ann Neelley's death sentence to life in prison in January 1999. [22]
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. [23] In 2020, the Alabama Court of the Judiciary charged Todd with an ethics complaint lodged by the Judicial Inquiry Commission, [24] which accused the Birmingham judge of using her position to oppose and override the state death penalty. [25] Todd was suspended without pay for 90 days and then permitted to return to her duties as a judge. [26]
On September 22, 2022, Alabama planned to execute Alan Eugene Miller but canceled the execution after failing to find a suitable vein. [27] 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. [28] Following several botched executions, Governor Kay Ivey paused all executions [29] until July 2023. [9] 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. [30] Smith had requested this method. [31] [32]
In late 2024, Matt Simpson 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. [33] [34] [35]
In the United States, capital punishment is a legal penalty in 27 states, throughout the country at the federal level, and in American Samoa. It is also a legal penalty for some military offenses. Capital punishment has been abolished in the other 23 states and in the federal capital, Washington, D.C. It is usually applied for only the most serious crimes, such as aggravated murder. Although it is a legal penalty in 27 states, 20 of them have authority to execute death sentences, with the other 7, as well as the federal government and military, subject to moratoriums.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Louisiana.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Arkansas.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Indiana. The last person executed in the state, excluding federal executions in Terre Haute, was mass murderer Joseph Edward Corcoran in 2024.
Capital punishment is not allowed to be carried out in the U.S. state of California, due to both a standing 2006 federal court order against the practice and a 2019 moratorium on executions ordered by Governor Gavin Newsom. The litigation resulting in the court order has been on hold since the promulgation of the moratorium. Should the moratorium end and the freeze conclude, executions could resume under the current state law.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Ohio, although all executions have been suspended indefinitely by Governor Mike DeWine until a replacement for lethal injection is chosen by the Ohio General Assembly. The last execution in the state was in July 2018, when Robert J. Van Hook was executed via lethal injection for murder.
The U.S. state of Washington enforced capital punishment until the state's capital punishment statute was declared null and void and abolished in practice by a state Supreme Court ruling on October 11, 2018. The court ruled that it was unconstitutional as applied due to racial bias; however, it did not render the wider institution of capital punishment unconstitutional and rather required the statute to be amended to eliminate racial biases. From 1904 to 2010, 78 people were executed by the state; the last was Cal Coburn Brown on September 10, 2010. In April 2023, Governor Jay Inslee signed SB5087 which formally abolished capital punishment in Washington State and removed provisions for capital punishment from state law.
Capital punishment was abolished via the legislative process on May 2, 2013, in the U.S. state of Maryland.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Oklahoma.
Capital punishment is one of two possible penalties for aggravated murder in the U.S. state of Oregon, with it being required by the Constitution of Oregon.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Idaho.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Florida.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Mississippi.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of North Carolina.
Capital punishment is currently a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Kansas, although it has not been used since 1965.
Capital punishment in Delaware was formally abolished in 2024, however it has not been enforced after Delaware’s capital punishment statues were declared unconstitutional by the Delaware Supreme Court on August 2, 2016. The ruling retroactively applies to earlier death sentences, and remaining Delaware death row inmates had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. The capital statute for first-degree murder under Title 11, Chapter 42, Section 09, of the Delaware Code was fully repealed on September 26, 2024.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of South Carolina.
Capital punishment is a legal punishment in Tennessee.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Missouri.
Capital punishment is a legal punishment in Pennsylvania. Despite remaining a legal penalty, there have been no executions in Pennsylvania since 1999, and only three since 1976. In February 2015, Governor Tom Wolf announced a formal moratorium on executions that is still in effect as of 2024, with incumbent Governor Josh Shapiro continuing Wolf's moratorium. However, capital crimes are still prosecuted and death warrants are still issued.
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Donaldson has a death row unit with a capacity of 24 inmates.
Tutwiler also has a death row
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