Ronald Smith was executed by the State of Alabama for the murder of Casey Wilson
According to court documents Ronald Smith would rob a store and in the process shoot and kill Casey Wilson
Ronald Smith would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Ronald Smith was executed on December 8 2016
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When Was Ronald Smith Executed
Ronald Smith was executed on December 8 2016
Ronald Smith Case
Ronald Smith was executed Thursday night for the 1994 capital murder of Casey Wilson.
Media witnesses said he gasped and coughed for 13 minutes of the execution at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, which began at 10:25 and ended at 11:05. They also report Smith clinching his left fist and heaving his chest during the execution.
It’s Alabama Department of Corrections protocol to give a consciousness check after the first drug in the three-drug lethal injection is given.
Alabama inmate coughs, heaves, during execution by injection
The first drug is meant to anesthetize inmates beyond consciousness. The second drug is a paralytic and the third stops the heart
He was twice administered a consciousness check and gave a level of reaction media witnesses who have covered several executions say they’ve never seen
Kent Faulk, an al.com reporter who witnessed Smith’s execution along with two other lethal injection executions, said this was the first time he has seen a consciousness check given twice.
The first conscious check was given at 10:37, the second at 10:46, ADOC spokesman Bob Horton said.
Faulk also said Smith moved his hand after the officer gave the second consciousness check.
Smith was previously party to a lawsuit that challenged the state’s death penalty protocol, alleging that Alabama’s death penalty process would cause cruel and unusual pain because the first drug administered does not properly anesthetize the condemned before injecting the second and third drugs
Without proper anesthetization, condemned inmates would feel burning and paralyzing sensations caused by the second and third drugs, the suit contended.
Midazolam, the first drug administered, first came under scrutiny in 2014 after it was used in three botched executions in Ohio, Oklahoma, and Arizona.
U.S. District Judge Keith Watkins ultimately ruled against Smith; the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld Watkins’ decision.
ADOC Commissioner Jeff Dunn said that the department followed protocol for the execution, and would be seeking an autopsy for Smith.
Smith’s family did not attend the execution. One member of Wilson’s family, who wished to not be identified, was present.
When warden Cynthia Steward asked Smith if he wanted to comment before she began his execution, Smith responded, “No ma’am.” He continued to move his lips with his chaplin, media witnesses said. Steward was the first female warden in Alabama to perform an execution.
His was the second execution in Alabama this year; Christopher Brooks was executed in January for a 1992 rape and murder.