Sad story all around. Does he deserve to be in jail for a long time yes. Does he deserve the death penalty absolutely not. He didn’t even shoot the police officers. Something is wrong https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/05/us/alabama-nathaniel-woods-execution/index.html
If the details in the article are accurate and that is a big if when considering the source, I would agree he should not have been executed.
A total injustice this man should not have been put to death. The facts alone should have been enough to stay the execution. .https://thehill.com/regulation/cour...a-prisoner-Nathaniel-Woods-dies-by-execution-
Really shocked they actually executed him considering all the pressure and media coverage this case got recently. His co-defendant took full responsibility for the killings , saying they weren't preplanned , just spur of the moment. Apparently the SCOTUS rejected at least one appeal ... I really hate the death penalty , particularly in cases where there is even the slightest doubt. One innocent man being put to death is far too many.
I just read the entire breakdown of the facts by the Alabama Court of Appeals. The article does a decent job but they leave out much of the early interaction where Woods is repeatedly threatening the police. The article tries to make it seems as if this all happened very quickly. Woods either deserves life in prison or the death penalty.
I'll do my best. I accessed it through the Lexis Nexis database, but maybe I can find it through an outside link or screenshot pertinent portions.
I'm not ready to jump off that cliff and say this guy didn't deserve his punishment - I haven't researched the case to know what they are accused of doing other than the headline "kill cops." I don't know the course of events .... What I saw on the news yesterday is what I regurgitated .... his co defendant took the blame. That in itself doesn't absolve him. I was just voicing my opinion of the death penalty in general , not particularly this case. Got a link ?!
I figured there was more to this. That is why in my earlier post I added a disclaimer about the facts of the article being accurate given the source. CNN is almost tabloid quality these days. All they do is push narratives and leave out any facts that counter the narrative they are pushing.
I firmly believe in an eye for an eye in cases that are iron clad. And I don't believe in waiting around. He'll, I'd probably be for putting videos on the web, too, as a deterrent. But in cases where there is any doubt whatsoever (like this one), I am staunchly against the death penalty. I can't imagine a worse fate than sitting in prison, waiting to be killed by the government, for something you didn't do. Not saying that's the case here, but in general.
I need to see the reporting that he referenced. My reading from various articles was that Woods argued with officers EARLIER in the day. They then came later to a drug house where Woods was at to arrest him (with a warrant) and the shooter was there as well and opened fire killing the three officers. I haven't read anything about Woods knowing they were coming to get him there NOR anyone suggesting that he wanted them killed. The shooter himself has maintained all along that he shot the three officers on a spur of a moment panic to protect himself from arrest and it had nothing to do with Woods. I'm not saying I know what the truth is here, but I can't find literally any reporting of evidence to dispute that narrative. The shooter was apparently asleep when the police arrived to serve the warrant. There is a repeated claim I see that Woods "lured" the officers to their death I literally can't find a single piece of reporting that expands upon that beyond saying the prosecutors made that claim.
We could even call it a "reasonable doubt". There are many innocent prisoners for all sorts of crimes and plenty have been executed only to be exonerated posthumously. Innocent people will always be executed as long as there is capital punishment. This is the number one reason it should be abolished. Otherwise, under your premise, you're essentially saying "Well, we're really really sure this guy is guilty!"
So threatening the police deserves life in prison or the death penalty? It did happen quickly those threats were at another time.
This guy was also in custody at the time they were shot, sorry but the death penalty is complete BS. After reading through the case it seems the officer did not follow protocol, why would chase somebody into the apt when you thought someone else was inside.
Not a lawyer, but Alabama apparently has a variation of the felony murder rule called the "accomplice law" that holds him guilty without pulling the trigger because it occured during the commission of a felony (the crack). That is the law where if, for instance, a cop is shot by bank robbers during a violent bank robbery, all the robbers are considered guilty because the murder was a direct result of the crime they were all committing together. Seems like BS that you can apply it to non-violent crimes, but apparently that is exactly what happened. Also, he was a black man in Alabama, which is pretty much half way to being a felony in and of itself. I'm guessing the deck was pretty stacked from the get go.
This is what I thought as well but they did not enter the home to look for crack and they had him in custody before the shooting and it was not because of selling crack. I have not read all the way, was he convicted on drug offenses?