A journalist selected as a media witness has described the hours leading up to and including the execution of Nathaniel Woods at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore on March 5, 2020.
Woods, a convicted cop killer, was put to death by lethal injection. His execution had been set for 6 p.m., but the process was delayed after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a temporary stay. The stay was lifted late in the evening, and the execution proceeded.
Before the lethal drug began flowing, the warden read the death warrant and Woods was given the opportunity to make a final statement, which he declined. He was pronounced dead by a doctor shortly before 9 p.m.
The account details the procedures inside the witness rooms, where members of the media, the victims’ families and other observers watched through a window. The reporter wrote that witnessing an execution is a heavy assignment and said the goal was to shed light on what occurs on death row.
Woods’ case drew attention in the final hours as his family and attorneys made a final appeal to Gov. Kay Ivey, who declined to commute the sentence.