Death penalty: Alabama inmate Casey McWhorter executed for the shooting death of man in 1993 robbery

Casey McWhorter, who spent almost 30 years on death row, was executed today (NZT) by lethal injection. Photo / AP

An Alabama inmate convicted of killing a man during a 1993 robbery when he was a teenager has been executed by lethal injection.

Casey McWhorter, 49, was executed at a southwest Alabama prison today (NZ time), authorities said. He was sentenced to death for his role in the robbery and shooting death of Edward Lee Williams, 34, in February 1993.

Prosecutors said McWhorter, who was three months past his 18th birthday, conspired with two younger teenagers, including Williams’ 15-year-old son, to steal money and other items from Williams’ home and then kill him.

The jury that convicted McWhorter recommended a death sentence by a vote of 10-2, which a judge, who had the final decision, imposed. The younger teens – Edward Lee Williams Jr and Daniel Miner, 16 – were sentenced to life in prison, according to court records.

”It’s kind of unfortunate that we had to wait for so long for justice to be served, but it’s been served,” the victim’s brother, Bert Williams, told reporters after the execution.

He said the lethal injection was a “peaceful death to a murderous dog”.

Prison officials opened the curtain to the execution chamber at 6.30pm McWhorter, who was strapped to the gurney with the intravenous lines already attached, moved slightly at the beginning of the procedure, rubbing his fingers together, but his breathing slowed until it appeared to stop.

”I would like to say I love my mother and family,” McWhorter said in his final words. “I would like to say to the victim’s family I’m sorry. I hope you found peace.”

He also used his final words to take an apparent verbal jab at his executioner, the prison warden who faced domestic violence accusations decades ago, saying that, “it’s not lost on me that a habitual abuser of women is carrying out this procedure”.

Prosecutors said McWhorter and Miner went to Williams’ home with rifles and fashioned homemade silencers from a pillow and a milk jug. When the older Williams arrived home and discovered the teens, he grabbed the rifle held by Miner. They began to struggle and McWhorter fired the first shot at Williams, who was shot a total of 11 times, according to court records.

Defence lawyers had unsuccessfully sought a stay of execution from the US Supreme Court, citing McWhorter’s age at the time of the crime. They argued the death sentence was unconstitutional because Alabama law does not consider a person to be a legal adult until the age of 19.

McWhorter did not deny his part in the crime or firing the first shot but maintained he did not fire the fatal shots. He said he had been told negative things about Williams at the time but now did not know if any of it was true.

“I was a very confused kid,” he told the Associated Press. “I had some issues going on in my head that I didn’t know how to fix, and the only way I knew to feel acceptance was doing some of the stupid stuff I was doing with the people I was doing it with. I felt like they were family at that point.”

McWhorter spent nearly 30 years on Alabama’s death row, making him among the longest-serving of the state’s 165 death row inmates.

McWhorter said he would encourage young people going through difficult times to take a moment before making a life-altering mistake such as his.

“Anything that comes across them that just doesn’t sit well at first, take a few seconds to think that through,” he said. “Because one bad choice, one stupid mistake, one dumb decision can alter your life – and those that you care about – forever.”

McWhorter was the second inmate put to death this year after the state paused executions for several months to review procedures following a series of failed or problematic executions. James Barber, 64, was executed by lethal injection in July for the 2001 beating death of a woman.

Alabama plans in January to make the nation’s first attempt to execute an inmate with nitrogen gas. Nitrogen hypoxia has been authorised as an execution method in Alabama, Oklahoma and Mississippi, but no state has yet used it.