The American state of Alabama plans to execute a man condemned for the murder of three police officers Thursday evening, despite the mobilization of several personalities, including Kim Kardashian, who doubt his guilt. Nathaniel Woods, 44, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection in the evening at a penitentiary near Atmore in the southern United States.
In 2004, police came to arrest him in an apartment used for drug trafficking in Birmingham. During the intervention, three were killed and a fourth injured. Nathaniel Woods hadn't pulled the trigger. But in 2005, he received the same sentence as the perpetrator, his roommate Kerry Spencer, because he was considered the "mastermind" of the attack. During his trial, prosecutors accused him of having lured the investigators into an ambush, knowing that his accomplice would kill them. He always maintained his innocence.
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In a recent letter sent by the American media, his former roommate Kerry Spencer assures that Nathaniel Woods is "100% innocent" . "I know because I was the one who shot and killed the police," he wrote. Another troubling fact for his defenders: he was convicted by ten jurors out of twelve, Alabama being the only American state that allows the death penalty to be imposed without a unanimous jury.
As the date scheduled for its execution approaches, some 120,000 people, including VIPs, have asked Governor Kay Ivey to grant him a reprieve. "Do you want to authorize the execution of a man who may be innocent?" , notably wrote him civil rights activist Martin Luther King III, son of the murdered pastor.
"Join the broad coalition - including jury members and relatives of the victims - who demand" a postponement of the execution, also tweeted reality TV star Kim Kardashian. At the same time, Nathaniel Woods' lawyers have brought a final appeal before the United States Supreme Court, challenging the method of execution adopted. If these requests do not succeed, he will become the fifth death row inmate executed in 2020 in the United States.