On Thursday, Alabama executed a prisoner by lethal injection for a 1996 killing after a divided U.S. Supreme Court sided with the state and rejected defence allegations that the man had an intellectual handicap that denied him the opportunity to pick a less “torturous,” yet untested, execution method.
Matthew Reeves, 43, was executed at Holman Prison after the court overturned a lower court order that had barred the prisoner’s execution. In a statement, Texas Attorney General Steve Marshall stated he was declared dead at 9:24 p.m. CST.
In 1996, Reeves was found guilty of killing Willie Johnson Jr., a driver who had given him a ride. According to the evidence, Reeves went to a party after the killing and celebrated it.
The inmate had no final words to say. Reeves frowned and stared at his left arm toward an intravenous line after craning his neck a few times to look around. Reeves’ abdomen twitched frequently with his eyes closed and mouth slightly gaping before he became still.
Johnson, according to Gov. Kay Ivey, was a “good Samaritan extending a helping hand” who was cruelly killed. “Justice was rightfully served tonight,” she said of Reeves’ death sentence.
According to prison officials, some members of Johnson’s family were present throughout the execution. “Justice has finally been served after 26 years,” they stated in a written statement. “At long last, our family will be able to put this matter to rest.”
Johnson was killed by a shotgun blast to the neck during a robbery in Selma on November 27, 1996, and Reeves was convicted of capital murder. After picking up Reeves and others on the side of a remote highway, he was slain.
Reeves, then 18, went to a party where he danced and mimicked Johnson’s death spasms after the dying man was robbed of $360, according to authorities. According to a court verdict, Reeves’ hands were still smeared with blood at the celebration, according to a witness.
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