Gov. Kay Ivey will not halt the scheduled execution of convicted murderer Joe Nathan James, Jr., who is set to be put to death by the State of Alabama Thursday at 6:00 p.m. CST via lethal injection.
James, who in 1994 shot and killed his ex-girlfriend, had garnered state and national media attention after the victim’s family expressed their opposition to his planned execution, citing their forgiveness of his actions.
Faith Hall, at age 26, was harassed for months by James before he took her life. Court documents show that after Hall returned home from shopping with friends, Nathan entered her apartment and pulled a firearm from his waistband, and shot her three consecutive times.
James was found guilty of capital murder by a jury in Jefferson County, which recommended the judge presiding over the case hand him the death penalty.
After receiving his sentence, James’ guilty verdict was overturned by a state appeals court after defense attorneys argued that the judge had wrongly admitted police reports into evidence, NPR reports.
James was retried in 1999 when the prosecution successfully convinced jurors that he was under no emotional duress during the time of the murder.
After reviewing the details of James’ case, Ivey asserted that there was “no reason” to halt the scheduled execution.
On Thursday, Joe Nathan James Jr. will be executed in Alabama. He was sentenced to death for killing a woman in Birmingham in 1999. @AP reports the victim's family oppose the execution. Today I spoke with Governor Kay Ivey, who says the execution will go on as scheduled. pic.twitter.com/G5dgNYRQfD
— Emily Moessner (@EmilyMoessner) July 27, 2022
“My staff and I have researched all the records and all the facts and there’s no reason to change the procedure or modify the outcome. The execution will go forward,” the governor said during media availability on Wednesday.
Prior to Ivey’s comments, Attorney General Steve Marshall expressed his public support for James’ death sentence to be carried out, saying that “it is our obligation to ensure that justice is done for the people of Alabama.”
“The jury in James’s case unanimously decided that his brutal murder of Faith Hall warranted a sentence of death,” declared Marshall.
Dylan Smith is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL
