Social media users are currently pleading with Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, as they ask her to stop the execution of Nathaniel Woods. The execution is scheduled to take place Thursday, March 5th.
According to CNN, Woods, 42, was convicted of killing three officers back in 2004. However, his attorneys say he has maintained his innocence throughout the years, and the co-defendant in the case has reportedly confessed to being the lone gunman in the crime.
Woods has received an enormous amount of support as appeals have been made by multiple activists. Including Martin Luther King III, who recently wrote a letter to the governor.
In the letter, he said, “In just 2 days, your state, and the state I was born in, is set to kill a man who is very likely innocent. Killing this African American man, whose case appears to have been strongly mishandled by the courts, could produce an irreversible injustice.”
Prosecutors say that on June 17, 2004, officers in Birmingham were in the process of arresting Woods at an apartment he was reportedly dealing drugs with co-defendant Kerry Spencer.
According to prosecutors, Spencer fatally shot three officers and injured a fourth. Woods was convicted of capital murder and attempted murder and was sentenced to death in 2005. Spencer was also convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death, he currently remains in prison with appeals pending in his case.
Woods’ attorney says that he was given a court-appointed lawyer that had no experience with “handling a capital case, conducted an inadequate investigation and failed to advise him properly about taking a plea deal that was offered.”
Activist Shaun King also spoke about Woods as he urged his followers to sign a petition to help stop the execution.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/03/politics/alabama-nathaniel-woods-execution/index.html
TSR STAFF: Jade Ashley @Jade_Ashley94
