[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA

[Rick Halperin]

April 19



ALABAMA----execution

Walter Leroy Moody executed for 1989 murder of federal judge


Walter Leroy Moody has been executed for the 1989 murder of a federal judge, 
the office of Gov. Kay Ivey confirms.

Earlier Thursday evening the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a stay of execution that 
temporarily halted Alabama's execution of Walter Leroy Moody, Jr. The order 
cleared the way for the execution to proceed.

Ivey released the following statement after the sentence was carried out:

     I approach every execution by giving the condemned, and the issues raised 
by the underlying case, the careful consideration both deserve. My ultimate 
desire is to see justice rightly administered.

     “Mr. Moody was convicted of killing Federal Judge Robert Vance and severely 
injuring Judge Vance’s wife with a bomb purposefully created to kill and maim. 
The crimes committed by Mr. Moody were intentional, well-planned and aimed at 
inflicting the most possible harm. A jury found him guilty beyond a reasonable 
doubt and his conviction has been upheld at every level of the judicial system.

     “For our system of government to work properly, the judiciary must be able 
to operate without undue outside influence. By targeting and murdering a 
respected jurist, Mr. Moody not only committed capital murder, he also sought 
to interrupt the flow of justice. After considering the facts of his horrendous 
and intentional crime, I have allowed Mr. Moody’s sentence to be carried out in 
accordance with the laws of this state and in the interest of ensuring justice 
for the victim and his family.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall also released a statement after the 
execution:

     Nearly 30 years ago, 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Robert Vance 
was brutally slain when a pipe bomb sent to his Birmingham home exploded. 
Walter Leroy Moody was convicted of Judge Vance’s murder in both federal and 
state courts. Even though he was also convicted of a similar pipe bomb death of 
a Georgia attorney, Moody has spent the better part of three decades trying to 
avoid justice. Tonight, Mr. Moody’s appeals finally came to a rightful end. 
Justice has been served.

The 83-year-old had appealed to the nation's highest court, citing vein issues 
as his execution loomed.

A package bomber who created a wave of terror across the South in the 1980s, 
Moody was executed by lethal injection at Holman Correctional Facility.

The execution was slated to happen nearly 30 years after Moody killed Robert S. 
Vance, a federal judge, with a bomb mailed to his home.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Moody was the oldest inmate 
put to death in the United States in modern times.

Moody was also convicted in federal court of killing a black civil rights 
attorney from Savannah, Georgia, and mailing a bomb to a civil rights 
organization.

Moody becomes the 2nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in
Alabama and the 63rd overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 
1983.

Moody becomes the 8th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in
the USA and the 1473rd overall since the nation resumed executions on January 
17, 1977.

(sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin)