Who Is James Barber? Death Row Inmate Raises Appeal Over Botched Executions

Attorneys for James Barber, the first inmate that Alabama is preparing to put to death since a series of problematic lethal injections prompted a pause, asked a federal appeals court on Monday to block his upcoming execution.

Barber, 64, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection on Thursday. He was sentenced to death for the 2001 murder of 75-year-old Dorothy Epps. Prosecutors said Barber, a handyman who knew Epps' daughter, confessed to killing Epps with a claw hammer and fleeing with her purse.

Barber is set to be the first person executed since Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey halted executions in November and directed the state prison system to undertake a "top-to-bottom" review of death penalty procedures after two lethal injections were called off because of difficulties inserting an IV into the veins of the inmates.

Advocacy groups said a third execution—that of Joe Nathan James Jr.— was botched. James was put to death in July after a lengthy delay.

Ivey in February said the state was ready to resume executions. Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said the prison system was adding to its pool of medical professionals, had ordered new equipment and has been conducting rehearsals,

But Barber's attorney Mara Klebaner asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday to halt Barber's execution, citing Alabama's history.

"We're able to see from what happened last year; we have a very strong chance of substantial harm," Klebaner told the panel of judges, The Associated Press reported.

Richard Anderson, an assistant Alabama attorney general, said the state will use a new IV team, which he argued shows a "good faith" effort to correct any problems that had occurred.

But Klebaner said the state's decision to pick a different IV team does not solve the problem. "It's like picking up a different can of soda off the shelf from a factory that isn't passing safety inspections," she said, according to the AP.

Ivey has rebuffed requests to authorize an independent review of the state's execution procedures.

Following the internal review, Alabama got rid of its midnight deadline to get an execution underway in order to give the state more time to establish an intravenous line. The state will have until 6 a.m. on Friday morning to get Barber's execution started.

Newsweek has contacted Klebaner, the Alabama Attorney General's Office and the governor's office for comment via email.

Death penalty opponents have condemned Alabama's decision to go forward with Barber's execution.

"Given Alabama's recent history of botched executions, it is staggering that James Barber's lethal injection is set to take place," nonprofit Reprieve's director Maya Foa said in a statement to Newsweek.

"Three executions in a row went horribly wrong in Alabama last year, yet officials have asserted that 'no deficiencies' were found in their execution process."

Foa said the state's plan to add a strap to the death chamber gurney "to limit movement and conceal pain only confirms the inhumanity of lethal injections and the state's approach."

Extending the time frame for executions "raises the chances that Alabama will set another record for the longest execution in American history," she said, referring to the execution of Joe Nathan James Jr..

"Alabama is on the wrong side of history, doubling down on this cruel, outdated punishment as states across the USA turn away from the death penalty," Foa added.

Abraham Bonowitz, executive director of Death Penalty Action, which aims "to stop executions and abolish the death penalty," said the last two men Alabama tried to execute—Kenneth Smith and Alan Miller—were "poked and sliced for hours before time ran out, and those men are still alive today."

He told Newsweek: "All of this debate about execution methods and now asking trained medical professionals to violate the ethics of their professions is embarrassing to a country that considers itself a standard bearer for human rights. The prisoner notwithstanding, what about the lifelong trauma we are asking prison workers to take on?"