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.
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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.