A murderer who sat on death row for over 20 years has died by lethal injection in a 'guinea pig' execution.
James Barber, 64, was executed at at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama, after a series of appeals failed.
He was pronounced dead at 1.56 am after receiving a lethal injection. He ate a final meal of loaded hashbrowns, western omelet, spicy sausage and toast.
He was convicted for beating to death 75-year-old Dorothy Epps in 2001. Prosecutors said Barber, a handyman who knew Epps’ daughter, confessed to killing her with a claw hammer and fleeing with her purse.
His execution was the first in the state since governor Kay Ivey paused them in November 2022 following a number of botched lethal injections.
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It came after two lethal injections were called off because of difficulties inserting IVs. Advocacy groups said a third execution, carried out after a delay because of IV problems, was botched, though the state disputes that.
Capital punishment is regularly carried out across the US (AFP via Getty Images)The pause lifted in February and a 2-1 ruling at a federal appeals court rejected Barber's request to block the execution over fears he could be subject to "substantial harm."
The federal appeals ruling found that the Alabama Department of Corrections has amended its execution procedures, therefore rendering his "claim that the same pattern would continue to occur purely speculative."
In a dissenting opinion, however, U.S. Circuit Judge Jill Pryor blasted the state's execution review process for being conducted "entirely outside the scope of any court's or the public's scrutiny, and without saying what went wrong or what it fixed as a result."
She wrote that the state "swears it is ready to try again, with Mr. Barber as its guinea pig."
At the time of his conviction jurors voted 11-1 to recommend a death sentence, which a judge imposed.
Before his execution, Barber told NBC News in a phone interview Saturday that he was sceptical the state could carry out his execution without incident.
He said: "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."
He also said he had developed a friendship with Sarah Gregory, a granddaughter of the victim, who has said she forgives him and doesn't want to see him executed.
"I don't want people to think, well, I want to die," he said. "Nobody wants to die. I think there's a lot that I can accomplish and people I can help. Change hearts. I'd like to be around, I would. But to make it clear, I'm not hanging on to this life."
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