Willie B. Smith III, 52, will receive a lethal injection at 6 pm Thursday at a southwest Alabama prison after avoiding his execution in February because his pastor wouldn t be present.
Supreme Court Rebuffs Alabamaâs Effort to Bar Pastor From Execution Chamber
The case was the latest in a series of disputes over the presence of spiritual advisers in execution chambers that have bitterly divided the justices.
The Supreme Court allowed the execution of another Alabama inmate in a similar case in 2019, but months later stayed the execution of a Texas inmate.Credit.Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times
Feb. 12, 2021
WASHINGTON â The Supreme Court late Thursday night let stand a ruling that halted the execution of an Alabama inmate unless the state allowed his pastor to be present in the death chamber.
Alabama was scheduled to execute death-row prisoner
Willie B. Smith III on February 11, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a federal appeals court injunction barring the execution from going forward unless the state permitted Smith’s pastor to be present to provide him religious comfort in the execution chamber. Alabama then announced that it was calling off the execution.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit had issued the preliminary injunction late in the day on February 10, placing Smith’s scheduled February 11, 2021 execution in doubt. The Supreme Court’s order came amidst renewed charges of religious discrimination in the state’s execution practices.
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On Feb. 11, the state of Alabama intends to execute Willie B. Smith III without his pastor by his side which Smith alleges is a violation of his religious freedom.
Smith has requested that Pastor Robert Wiley Jr., his friend and spiritual adviser, be able to pray with him and hold his hand up until his death. Currently, Alabama’s protocol does not allow for any religious figures to be present in the execution chamber and instead relegates them to the viewing room. The case is currently before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, where Smith’s representation is arguing that this is a prohibition of his religious rights.