Weekly Report from the Board Meeting at Holman Prison 7.12.23

           Weekly Report from the Board Meeting at Holman Prison 7.12.23

The governor’s office set a time frame for the execution of James Barber that will begin at midnight on July 20 and expire at 6 a.m. on July 21. The 30-hour window is designed to give the state prison system more time after two most recent executions were called off because of trouble with intravenous lines. Barber has requested to die by nitrogen hypoxia, an as-yet untested execution method approved by the state in 2018. The AL DOC said that it is not ready to use that method as of yet. U.S. Chief District Judge Emily C. Marks of the Middle District of Alabama ruled Friday that Barber failed to show that his execution by lethal injection would violate the 8th Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. 

 You can find the Execution Talking Points at: https://www.phadp.org/execution-alert-james-barber/. We thank the individuals, including Cantor Mike Zoosman from L’chaim, Jews Against the Death Penalty for their daily weekday calls to the Governor’s office protesting the upcoming execution. Might you join them? PHONE 1-334-242-7100 and please sign the Death Penalty Action petition: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/stop-the-execution-of-james-barber-in-alabama/

The good news is that a federal judge denied Alabama’s motion to dismiss Kenneth Eugene Smith’s lawsuit which states that his 8th Amendment right regarding prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment would be violated if the state retried to execute him by lethal injection.

Last Sunday the Auburn U.U.F. explored the challenge and power of forgiveness based on the experience of the granddaughter of Jimi Barber’s murder victim who forgave him. Much love and dedication went into this event and we thank all, especially Advisory Board Member Judy Collins. You can watch it here: https://auuf.org/watch 

In Tread by Lee Hedgepeth in a well researched article entitled “Alabama plans to gas condemned citizens. Are others already at risk?” the question is raised whether with nitrogen gas executions Alabama is already putting other innocent people in harm’s way? The article caught the public’s attention.

We are proud that our organization is one of many that is listed in the material being circulated when the Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act is reintroduced in Congress this Thursday. Great job Death Penalty Action!

We thank all who are working so hard and diligently to stop all killing in Alabama!

As always in closing, we thank all our generous donors who either gave by going to our website and using the “donate” button or who gave directly. Thank you also to all who took the time to read our notes, commented, liked and shared them on Facebook. And if you would like to order our book Ghosts Over the Boiler you can do so at Amazon.com.

                                                                 Esther                                                             

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Weekly Report from the Board Meeting at Holman Prison 7.12.23
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