Execution canceled as US court says inmate s pastor should be with him
Supreme Court rules that Alabama state cannot proceed without the condemned man s pastor in the execution chamber
Updated: February 16, 2021 06:02 AM GMT
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Willie B. Smith III was convicted of murder 30 years ago but was granted a last-minute stay of execution on Feb. 11 after a US Supreme Court ruling. (Photo: Alabama Department of Corrections/AFP)
After the Supreme Court blocked the execution of an Alabama man because it ruled his pastor should be allowed to be with him, the state canceled the execution.
In a divided midnight vote Feb. 11, the justices upheld a lower court s ruling that Willie Smith III s pastor should be with him in the execution chamber, which the state opposed.
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.
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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.