The governor's office set a time frame for the execution of James Barber. The 30-hour window is designed to give the state prison system more time after two most recent executions were called off because of trouble with intravenous lines.
Alabama paused executions for three months after the state failed to execute two men and took more than three hours to kill another man. Now, after an internal review and a rule change, prison officials will resume the procedure.
The Alabama Supreme Court abolished the one-day time frame for executions. Instead, the governor will set a window of time. The court also eliminated an automatic “plain error review” of death penalty cases.
Last month, Gov. Kay Ivey asked Attorney General Steve Marshall not to seek additional execution dates for any other death row inmates until a review is complete.
The move follows the uncompleted execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith, which was the state's second instance of being unable to put an inmate to death in the past two months and its third since 2018.