The Latest Breaking News from Joe Nathan James

Alabama executes man by nitrogen gas for the first time in the U.S.

Kenneth Smith, 58, died at 8:25 p.m. Thursday, after a slew of last-minute appeals to several courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, failed.

WEKU · Jan 26, 2024

Alabama’s execution problems are part of a long history of botched lethal injections

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has announced a pause in her state’s use of capital punishment. It follows a run of botched lethal injection executions in the state, including two where the procedure had to be abandoned before the inmates succumbed to the cocktail of death drugs.

The Conversation · Nov 29, 2022

Alabama halts executions; can't fix them

After a gruesome series of executions gone wrong, Gov. Kay Ivey hits pause. But there's no fixing the death penalty

Salon · Nov 23, 2022

An Alabama Prison Allegedly Botched a Man's Execution. Officials Deny That Anything Unusual Occurred.

Joe Nathan James appeared to have suffered for hours as prison officials tried to establish an IV for lethal injection.

Reason · Aug 15, 2022

Murderer's hands and wrists 'burst by needles' during lethal injection execution

The execution by lethal injection of murderer Joe Nathan James was completed after his hands and wrists were "burst by needles" as an independent autopsy showed a number of puncture wounds

Daily Mirror · Aug 15, 2022