After SCOTUS decision, Alabama allows spiritual advisers at executions
Alabama is amending its lethal injection procedures to allow a condemned inmate to have his spiritual adviser in the execution chamber, state lawyers wrote in a February 25 court filing.
The move comes after the US Supreme Court sided with Alabama inmate Willie B. Smith III, who had sought to have his pastor in the chamber. Alabama had previously argued that only prison staff should be allowed in the chamber for security reasons.
“In light of the Supreme Court’s decision in this matter, however, Defendant is in the process of amending the ADOC’s lethal injection protocol to permit a condemned inmate to have his spiritual advisor in the execution chamber,” lawyers with the Alabama attorney general’s office wrote in a court filing.
