Execution of Nathaniel Woods


The execution of Nathaniel Woods occurred on March 5, 2020, at Atmore state prison in Alabama, in what was described by many as a controversial execution due to questions about the reliability of Woods's conviction and sentence.

Incident

The murders that Nathaniel Woods was convicted of took place on June 17, 2004, in Birmingham, Alabama. Three police officers unexpectedly came into the home of Nathaniel Woods and Kerry Spencer due to their home being a suspected drug house. Spencer had an SKS rifle when he heard the officers, while Woods was in the kitchen. Spencer came downstairs to see two officers pointing guns at him. Spencer fired shots at all three police officers, leading to their deaths. Woods ran out of the house when he heard the gunshots. Spencer and Woods were both charged with the murders, despite Woods never firing a weapon. Spencer claimed Woods was not involved and said, "Nate is absolutely innocent. That man didn't know I was going to shoot anybody just like I didn't know I was going to shoot anybody that day, period."

Controversy

Days before Woods's execution, controversy started regarding Woods's sentence and whether he was genuinely guilty of the murders he was convicted of. Certain civil rights leaders, including Shaun King and Martin Luther King III, urged Alabama governor Kay Ivey to commute his death sentence. Ivey told Woods's attorney that she denied his request for clemency. Kimberly Chisholm Simmons, the sister of one of the murdered officers, Harley Chishom III, called Governor Ivey to request clemency for Woods and said, "He didn’t kill my brother, and he didn’t kill the other officers, may they rest in peace. I'm asking for mercy, and I believe my brother would want me to take a stance because of the man he was."
Nathaniel Woods's execution by lethal injection began on March 5, 2020 around 8:38 p.m., but Woods was not declared dead until approximately 9:01 p.m.

Aftermath

Civil rights activist Shaun King called the execution "a modern day lynching", and called Kay Ivey a murderer. On March 13, 2020, Nathaniel Woods's sister, Pamela Woods, confronted Governor Kay Ivey during one of Ivey's press briefings and said, "Governor Ivey, you killed my brother."

"The Man He Killed"

Woods delivered his last words in the form of a poem to his sister, Pamela Woods, to be released if his execution were to go through. The intro appears to be inspired from the poem, "The Man He Killed".