Alabama executes man for 1994 convenience
store killing
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[December 09, 2016]
By David Beasley
(Reuters) - Alabama executed a former Eagle
scout on Thursday for a convenience store killing in 1994, the 20th
person executed in the United States this year and the second in
Alabama.
Ronald Smith, 45, was pronounced dead at 11:05 p.m. (0505 GMT) at the
Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, where he was executed by lethal
injection, a spokesman for the Alabama Department of Corrections said.
Smith was executed after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a second stay on
the execution, having twice put it on hold on Thursday. He was
originally scheduled to die at 6 p.m. (midnight GMT).
The Supreme Court gave no explanation for any of its three orders issued
in the case on Thursday.
The Supreme Court granted a last-minute hold to stop Alabama carrying
out another man's death sentence a month ago. Justices gave no reason
for the stay in that case either.
Alabama's death penalty process is under scrutiny after the high court
ruled in January that a similar death penalty law in Florida gave judges
too much discretion.
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Smith was convicted of murdering Casey Wilson, a convenience store clerk
in Huntsville, during a failed robbery.
The jury that convicted Smith recommended a sentence of life in prison
without parole. However, trial judge Lynwood Smith, now a federal judge,
imposed a death sentence, as allowed by state law.
Trial testimony showed Smith had been an Eagle Scout and a member of the
National Honor Society, but struggled with alcoholism as an adult.
In a Supreme Court appeal, Smith's attorneys argued that his death
sentence should be overturned.
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![](../images/120916pics/news_f9.jpg)
Death row inmate Ronald Bert Smith Jr. is seen in an undated picture
released by the Alabama Department of Corrections in Montgomery,
Alabama, U.S. Alabama Department of Corrections/Handout via REUTERS
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They contended that Alabama's process was similar to Florida's,
struck down by the court this year. The justices ruled that Florida
judges were given powers that juries should wield in deciding death
penalty eligibility.
The U.S. Supreme Court has since ordered Alabama to review similar
practices in four other cases not involving Smith, court documents
show. Those reviews are pending.
Smith was the 20th person executed in the United States this year
and the second in Alabama, the non-profit Death Penalty Information
Center said.
Alabama contends its law is different from Florida's and that the
Supreme Court ruling in the Florida case was not retroactive,
applying to prior cases.
(Reporting by David Beasley in Atlanta; Additional reporting by Dan
Whitcomb in Los Angeles and Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by
Jonathan Oatis, Leslie Adler and Paul Tait)
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