A man who was found guilty of killing a convenience store clerk during a robbery that occurred in 1997 is scheduled to be put to death by nitrogen gas in the state of Alabama in the month of September.
On September 25, Geoffrey Todd West, who is 49 years old, is slated to be executed, according to the administration of Governor Kay Ivey of Alabama.
In connection with the murder of Margaret Parrish Berry, West is currently imprisoned on death row.
West allegedly drove to Harold’s Chevron in Attalla, a business where he had worked in the past, with the goal of robbing it, according to the court’s statement.
In the process of lying on the floor behind the counter, Berry, who was 33 years old, was shot in the back of the skull.
According to the documents filed with the court, some $250 was taken from a cookie tin that contained the money belonging to the store.
After reaching a verdict of guilty on the charge of capital murder, the jury recommended that West be sentenced to death with a vote of 10-2. Following that, the recommendation was upheld by a court, who ultimately decided to sentence West to death.
Circuit Judge William Cardwell of Etowah County stated that it was difficult to order the death of a young guy during the sentencing process that took place in 1999.
In spite of this, the judge stated that the shooting death was “clearly deliberate and intentional, carried out in an execution pattern.”
Additionally, an accusation of murder was brought against West’s girlfriend by the prosecution. The judge decided that she should serve 35 years in prison after she entered a guilty plea.
A method of carrying out an execution that involves pumping nitrogen through a face mask and depriving the convict of oxygen was first used in Alabama in 2024, making it the first state to use this technique.
With this method, there have been a total of six executions carried out, five of which took place in Alabama and one in Louisiana. Another nitrogen execution is set to take place in the month of August in Alabama.
The proponents of the practice assert that it is a painless and instantaneous method of death, while the opponents assert that it is untested and constitutes torture.
A backlash has been triggered all around the world as a result of the strategy, with protests from the Vatican occurring in 2024.
As a result of the authorization of the nitrogen method of death by the state legislature, West was one of several inmates in Alabama who chose to have their execution carried out using nitrogen.
Prior to Alabama developing processes for the method, he made the decision beforehand.
