WASHINGTON – A man convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend was executed in the southern US state of Alabama yesterday despite objections from the victim’s family.
Joe Nathan James, 49, was sentenced to death in 1996 for the 1994 murder of 26-year-old Faith Hall.
James’s time of death was 9.27pm (0127 GMT) according to the Alabama Attorney-General’s office. He had been scheduled to be executed by lethal injection.
James had petitioned the US Supreme Court to stay his execution “pursuant to the wishes of the surviving members of the family of the victim”.
“The victims and their families are paramount in our justice system, and deserve to be heard on the matter of the ultimate punishment of offenders,” James’ lawyer said in an appeal to the Supreme Court.
Hall’s daughters, who were 6 and 3 years old when their mother was murdered, had said they wanted James’ life to be spared.
“I don’t want it to go forward. We're not God,” Terryln Hall told CBS 42.
“An eye for an eye has never been a good outlook for life,” added her sister, Toni Hall.
James was convicted of shooting Faith Hall to death after she broke off their short relationship.
In a statement, Alabama Attorney-General Steve Marshall said “justice has been served”.
“Joe James was put to death for the heinous act he committed nearly three decades ago: the cold-blooded murder of an innocent young mother, Faith Hall,” he said.
James was the eighth person executed in the United States this year. – AFP, July 29, 2022
