An Alabama death row inmate, who was found guilty of killing his ex-girlfriend, has been executed… and his final moments were extremely unsettling.
Forty-nine-year-old Joe Nathan James Jr was sentenced to death for his crime back in 1994.
Scroll on to find out why his execution was so chilling…
Now, although abolished in many countries, the death penalty is still retained in some parts of the world.
These countries include China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and of course, the United States of America.
The death penalty has been a part of the US justice system for centuries…
And the penalty, which is often referred to as capital punishment, has been in action since approximately 1608… Yep, it’s really that old.
But it’s not currently legal in every state.
And as the years have gone on, it’s become more and more of a controversial and taboo subject.
Many U.S states have now abolished the death penalty for a number of reasons…
Including the risk factors of executing an innocent person, the fact it doesn’t prevent future crimes, and the fact that it is both discriminatory and can be used politically, as per Amnesty.
Organizations, such as Amnesty, have been fighting for decades to have the death penalty abolished entirely. They have been trying to expose and hold to account governments that continue to use the punishment.
Many find the death penalty totally barbaric.
When questioned, it’s difficult to justify the state killing its citizens.
Campaigners argued that many of those executed over the last few years were killed despite suffering from serious mental and physical illnesses…
Which should have rendered the death penalty an unconstitutional punishment.
And some states have made huge progress in this field.
History was made by Virginia being the first-ever southern state to abolish the death penalty. Other states which have abolished capital punishment include Alaska, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Delaware, New York, and Washington.
People were overjoyed by the news, to say the least…
And many are even calling for the abolishment to be nationwide.
Virginia is now the twenty-third state to abolish the death penalty.
And many are hoping for other Southern states to follow suit.
1 state that seems to be sticking with its decision to execute, however, is Alabama.
The state sentences more people to death per capita than any other state.
Now, lethal injections in Alabama have been known to go wrong.
Death-row prisoner John Evans’ execution in 1983 was one of the most horrific to go down in Alabama history. An electrode detached from his leg while he was in the electric chair, causing his body to burn. After multiple attempts to end his life, he finally died.
The electric chair was Alabama’s primary execution method from 1927 to 2002.
Since then, it has no longer been used, being replaced by lethal injection.
And the latest to be sentenced to death using this method was Joe Nathan James Jr, who shot dead his ex-girlfriend, Faith Hall, in 1994.
However, Hall’s family didn’t want Joe to be executed, believing he has “suffered enough.”
Instead, they wanted him to live out the remainder of his life in prison.
After learning that the execution was going ahead they released a statement saying they would not be attending.
Representative Juandalynn Givan shared the statement written by Faith Hall’s family.
“Today is a tragic day for our family. We are having to relive the hurt that this caused us many years ago.”
They continued…
“We write to inform you that we have decided to not attend the execution of Mr. Joe Nathan James Jr. We’ve asked Governor Kay Ivey and Attorney General Steve Marshall to hear our voices and respect our wishes. We know they decided not to.
“We hoped the state wouldn’t take a life simply because a life was taken and we have forgiven Mr. Joe Nathan James Jr. for his atrocities toward our family.
We have relied upon our faith to get us through these dark days. Although we knew this day would come, we hoped to have our voices heard through this process.
Their statement concluded: “We’d like to thank State Representative Juandalynn Givan for her help and assistance by reaching out to the Governor’s office.
“We pray that God allows us to find healing after today and that one day our criminal justice system will listen to the cries of families like ours even if it goes against what the state wishes. Our voices matter and so does the life of Mr. Joe Nathan James, Jr.”
What made his execution so chilling was that he endured excruciating pain in his last hours after his execution was delayed for almost 3 hours.
And it has been announced this was due to difficulties fitting the intravenous lines.
As per The Guardian, the director of Reprieve US, Maya Foa, said after the execution: “Subjecting a prisoner to three hours of pain and suffering is the definition of cruel and unusual punishment. States cannot continue to pretend that the abhorrent practice of lethal injection is in any way humane.”
She added: “This is the latest example of the extreme lengths states will be go to hide the brutal reality of lethal injection because they know the public would oppose it if they found out what was really going on.”