[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 19



ALABAMA----impending execution

U.S. Supreme Court OKs execution of Montgomery cop-killer


The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for tonight's execution of Alabama 
death row inmate Torrey Twane McNabb.

The execution by lethal injection is set for 6 p.m. at the Holman Correctional 
Facility in Atmore.

McNabb, 40, who was convicted in the shooting death of a Montgomery police 
officer, had tonight's execution stayed by a federal judge on Monday. A 
three-member panel of the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday kept 
that stay in place.

The Alabama Attorney General's Office, on behalf of the Alabama Department of 
Corrections, then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court late Wednesday in an 
effort to have the execution go on at 6 p.m. tonight.

In a brief order issued just after 4 p.m. today, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered 
the stay be lifted, clearing the way for tonight's execution.

"Alabama has already carried out four executions using this protocol," the AG 
stated in its appeal to the Supreme Court. "Three of those executed inmates 
were co-plaintiffs in this case, and their stay requests were denied by both 
this Court and the Eleventh Circuit."

McNabb has spent the last 18 years on death row, after being convicted of 
fatally shooting Montgomery police officer Anderson Gordon in September 1997. 
McNabb was convicted on two capital murder counts-- one for killing Gordon 
while he was on duty, and one for killing him as Gordon sat in his patrol car. 
McNabb also was found guilty of two additional counts of attempted murder.

(source: al.com)