An Alabama inmate convicted of killing a man during a 1993 robbery when he was a teenager was executed Thursday by lethal injection. Casey McWhorter, 49, was pronounced dead at 6:56pm at a southwest Alabama prison, authorities said. McWhorter was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death for his role in the robbery and shooting death of 34-year-old Edward Lee Williams. Prosecutors said McWhorter, who was three months past his 18th birthday at the time of the killing, conspired with two younger teenagers, including Williams' 15-year-old son, to steal money and other items from Williams' home and then kill him, the AP reports.
The jury that convicted McWhorter recommended a death sentence by a vote of 10-2, which a judge, who had the final decision, imposed, according to court records. The younger teens—Edward Lee Williams Jr. and Daniel Miner, who was 16—were sentenced to life in prison, according to court records. "It's kind of unfortunate that we had to wait so long for justice to be served, but it's been served," the victim's brother, Bert Williams, told reporters after the execution. He added that the lethal injection provided McWhorter a peaceful death unlike the violent end his brother endured.
"I would like to say I love my mother and family," McWhorter said in his final words. "I would like to say to the victim's family I'm sorry. I hope you find peace." McWhorter also used his final words to take an apparent verbal jab at his executioner, the prison warden who faced domestic violence accusations decades ago, saying that, "it's not lost on me that a habitual abuser of women is carrying out this procedure." Defense attorneys had unsuccessfully sought a stay from the US Supreme Court, citing McWhorter's age at the time of the crime. They argued the death sentence was unconstitutional because Alabama law does not consider a person to be a legal adult until age 19.
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