The sister of Nathaniel Woods confronted Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Thursday, a week after the state’s chief executive allowed his execution to go forward, despite please to spare his life.
What We Know:
- Pamela Woods came face to face with Ivey at a census kick-off event in Montgomery. While the Governor stood before reporters during a presser, Woods walked beside Ivey and stared directly at her face.
- “You killed my brother,” she said. “Gov. Ivey, you killed my brother.”
- Moments later Ivey was escorted away from Woods and the cameras. Woods, however, continued to pursue her advised WSFA.
'YOU KILLED MY BROTHER': The sister of Alabama inmate Nathaniel Woods, who was executed last week for the deaths of three Birmingham police officers, confronted @GovernorKayIvey in Montgomery Thursday https://t.co/xLxJJbaVe8 pic.twitter.com/k7fpJNyqcH
— WVTM 13 (@WVTM13) March 12, 2020
- “He’s an innocent man and you killed him,” she called after Ivey with other protestors calling out as well.
- After the encounter, Pamela Woods told the TV station, “he had bad legal counsel, that’s the only thing that went wrong in his case”.
“These dirty cops, everyone in Ensley knows this, everyone knows this. So why? Why execute an innocent man?”
- Nathaniel Woods was executed on March 5 after being convicted of capital murder for his role in the 2004 killings of three Birmingham police officers. His co-defendant, Kerry Spencer, had said Woods did not fire the gun that claimed the officers’ lives, but the state said Woods helped orchestrate the murders.
- In the days leading up to Woods’ execution, his family and supporters pleaded with Gov. Ivey to commute his sentence. Even Martin Luther King III tried to get Ivey to stop the execution, which he called injustice.
- Attempts to sway Ivey, however, were unsuccessful. Minutes before Woods was set to be executed, the Supreme Court issued a temporary stay in his case. But hours later, the high court reversed the decision and allowed the execution to proceed.
- Ivey, through her general counsel, announced that she would not use her executive powers to commute Woods’ sentence.
- Speaking to reporters, Pamela Woods said the state executed her brother out of revenge. Woods said she wants Ivey to abolish the death penalty. She also said any cases involving police officers should be investigated by the FBI, not the police department for which they worked.
- She said Ivey and Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who sent a statement condemning Nathaniel Woods prior to his execution, are murderers and that “they need to be executed”.
Several protests have been held outside of the governor’s mansion since Woods was executed.
