21 July 2023 , 07:52
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Alabama executed a man on Friday for the 2001 beating death of a woman as the state resumed lethal injections following a pause to review procedures.
James Barber, 64, was pronounced dead at 1:56 a.m. after receiving a lethal injection at a south Alabama prison.
It is the first execution scheduled in the state since Gov. Kay Ivey paused executions in November to conduct an internal review after two lethal injections were called off because of difficulties inserting IVs into the condemned men’s veins.
But who is James Barber and what crimes was he convicted of? Here's everything we know.
The execution would be the first lethal injection since the state paused executions following a string of problems with inserting the IVs. (AFP via Getty Images)'Heinous crime' against 'strong, graceful' grandmother
Barber was sentenced in January 2003 to death for beating a 75-year old woman to death, in her Harvest home near Huntsville.. A jury convicted Barber of beating 75-year old Dottie Epps to death with a hammer in May 2001, and recommended in December he get the death penalty.
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She suffered multiple skull fractures, head lacerations, brain bleeding, and rib fractures. The judge who sentenced Barber, called it a cruel, heinous and wicked crime that was committed.
Barber said in a 2012 court hearing, he had smoked “hundreds of dollars’ worth” of crack cocaine, drunk at least a case of beer, and taken a handful of prescription pain pills before he arrived at Ms Epps’s home on the night of the murder, The Atlantic reported.
After that he claims he had only hazy memories, but could clearly recall being inside the house, and picking up a hammer. Barber narrated his immediate horror at what he had done, how he had recoiled from his own image in a mirror moments after the crime. He said he didn’t know why he had struck Ms Epps.
Sarah Gregory, Ms Epps granddaughter, described the 75-year-old as strong, graceful woman who was filled with compassion and saw the best in everyone.
She added in an interview: "[He murdered] our matriarch, my best friend, my confidant, the woman who loved me (and everyone) unconditionally. I lost my hero that night and I lost her in the most horrible way imaginable."
The state will have until 6am Friday to start Barber’s execution. (Getty Images)Decision to send to death row
Ms Epps granddaughter, who was likely in attendance, previously said in an interview this year about the looming death sentence: “I don’t … I don’t want to see it done. But it will be hard. I spent so long believing in ‘an eye for an eye’—I’ve changed. It’s a really hard one.”
At the time of Barber's sentencing, Assistant District Attorney Robert Broussard said: "When you look at the facts of the case, he beat an elderly lady to death with a claw hammer. If this isn't a death penalty case, there's no such thing," Jurors voted 11-1 to recommend a death sentence, which a judge imposed.
Defense attorneys were fighting for a sentence of life in prison for Barber.
The court rejected in a 6-3 vote Barber’s argument that his Eighth Amendment rights would be violated if put to death by lethal injection.
Barber’s lawyers have argued that their client could be subject to multiple punctures in an effort to establish IV lines to deliver the deadly combination of drugs. Those multiple punctures, growing more painful with each stick of the needle, constituted “cruel and unusual punishment,” his lawyers maintained.
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They cited three allegedly botched executions in Alabama last year, in which Barber’s attorneys said Department of Corrections officials struggled to set intravenous lines in the condemned inmates’ veins to deliver the fatal drugs.
The Alabama attorney general's office had urged the Supreme Court to let the execution proceed. “Dorothy Epps, Smith’s victim, has survivors who have already waited overlong to see justice done,” the office added.
Last meal
Barber spent his last 24 hours before his scheduled execution Thursday night.
The ADOC said that Barber refused breakfast Thursday and ate snacks. For his final meal, Barber requested loaded hashbrowns, western omelet, spicy sausage and white toast. On Wednesday, Barber had 10 visitors and six phone calls. On Thursday, he had 22 visitors and two phone calls.