Alabama to carry out first lethal injection after review of execution procedures

By KIM CHANDLER
Associated Press

ATMORE, Ala. (AP) — Alabama plans to execute an inmate for the 2001 beating death of a woman as the state seeks to carry out its first lethal injection after a pause following a string of problems with inserting the IVs. Sixty-four-year-old James Barber is set to be put to death Friday morning at a south Alabama prison. The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for the execution to begin shortly after midnight by denying Barber’s request for a stay. It is the first execution scheduled in the state since Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey paused executions in November to conduct an internal review. The state called off two lethal injections because of difficulties inserting IVs into the condemned men’s veins. Barber was convicted in the 2001 beating death of 75-year-old Dorothy Epps.