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Protestors call for external review of Alabama execution protocol

“We do not trust the Alabama Department of Corrections to properly investigateĀ itself, and who would?” an organizer said.

Esther Brown, founder of Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty, speaks at a rally on the State Capitol Steps calling on the state to allow an external investigation into its execution protocols. (Jacob Holmes/APR)
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About a dozen protestors gathered at the steps of the Alabama State Capitol on Friday to call on public officials to have a third party conduct an external investigation of the state’s execution procedures.

“We do not trust the Alabama Department of Corrections to properly investigateĀ itself, and who would?” said rally organizer Dawson HicksĀ of Troy. “We believe a third party must conduct theĀ investigation. We oppose the death penalty for a variety of reasons including systemic and racial inequalities in Alabama’s criminal legalĀ system, but even supporters of executions want to make sure the state gets it right.”

Gov. Kay Ivey called for a moratorium on executions in November following the unsuccessful attempts to execute Alan Eugene Miller and James Edward Barber, as well as the controversial execution of Joe Nathan James Jr. She called for executions to pause while the state conducted a “top to bottom” review of the state’s execution procedures.

Ivey announced the end of the internal review at the end of February, after successfully arguing for a larger timeframe to complete executions to prevent death row inmates from “gaming the system.”

 

Jacob Holmes is a reporter at the Alabama Political Reporter. You can reach him at jholmes@alreporter.com

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