A man has been executed in Alabama for beating a woman to death in 2001 as the US state resumed lethal injections following a pause to review procedures.
James Barber, 64, was pronounced dead at 1.56am local time (7.56am BST) after receiving a lethal injection at a south Alabama prison.
Barber was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2001 killing of 75-year-old Dorothy Epps.
Prosecutors said Barber, a handyman, confessed to killing Ms Epps with a claw hammer and fleeing with her purse. Jurors voted 11-1 to recommend a death sentence, which a judge imposed.
It was the first execution carried out in Alabama this year after the state halted executions last autumn.
Alabama governor Kay Ivey announced a pause on executions in November to conduct an internal review of procedures.
The move came after the state halted two lethal injections because of difficulties inserting IVs into the condemned men’s veins. Advocacy groups claimed a third execution, carried out after a delay because of IV problems, was botched, a claim the state has disputed.
Barber’s lawyers unsuccessfully asked the courts to block the execution, saying the state has a pattern of failing “to carry out a lethal injection execution in a constitutional manner”.
The state asked the courts to let the execution proceed.
“Mrs Epps and her family have waited for justice for 22 years,” the Alabama attorney general’s office wrote in a court filing.
Before he was put to death, Barber told his family he loved them and apologized to Ms Epps’ family.
“Tell the Epps’ family I love them. I’m sorry for what happened,” Barber said. “No words would fit how I feel.”
Barber said he wanted to tell the governor “and the people in this room that I forgive you for what you are about to do”.
Barber said he wanted to read a written statement but was not allowed to have the paper, since he was strapped to a gurney.
In the statement, released later by his law firm, he wrote that “mere words could not express my sorrow at what had occurred at my hands”.
