Alabama resumed executions by lethal injection on Friday, after the state paused the practice in 2022 to conduct internal reviews concerning botched attempts.
James Barber, 64, was executed via lethal injection in Alabama on Friday for beating 75-year-old Dorothy Epps to death in 2001, according to a statement given by Department of Corrections Commissioner John Q. Hamm. He was pronounced dead at 1:56 a.m.
Barber, a former handyman, confessed to murdering Epps with a claw hammer, and fleeing the scene with her purse, prosecutors said during his trial. Jurors voted 11-1 in support of the death penalty, which a judge approved, according to The Associated Press
“I want to tell the Epps’ family I love them. I’m sorry for what happened,” Barber said prior to his execution. “No words would fit how I feel.” He also stated that he wanted to tell Republican Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey “and the people in this room that I forgive you for what you are about to do.”
Barber’s was the first execution to be carried out in the state in 2023. The practice was halted in 2022 after two botched executions in September and November were called off. Attorneys for Alan Miller claimed that prison staff poked at him for more than an hour, unsuccessfully trying to connect an IV line during his execution. Two months later, state officials called off the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith, after another unsuccessful attempt.
“Justice has been served. This morning, James Barber was put to death for the terrible crime he committed over two decades ago: the especially heinous, atrocious, and cruel murder of Dorothy Epps,” Attorney General Steve Marshall said of the execution. (RELATED: Police Charge Man With Murder After They Reportedly Find Dismembered Bodies Of Missing Duo In Storage Unit)
The Supreme Court denied Barber’s request for a stay, and did not file comment on the decision, The AP continued.