Alabama’s Comeback Tour: Lethal Injections 🎉… or Botchfest 2.0? 🤔
TL:DR; 😲 Alabama’s gearing up for its first lethal injection since a big ol’ review following some… mishaps. James Barber, 64, says “Hold up! Remember those botched injections?” while Alabama’s like “New procedures, who dis?” 🙃
When you take a break, you either come back better than ever, or it’s like a bad sequel to a movie nobody wanted. Enter Alabama, rolling out the red carpet for the first lethal injection since a pause brought on by… let’s call them “needle-related difficulties”. 🙈
James Barber, a spry 64-year-old, is the “lucky” guy set for his final curtain call Thursday evening at a vibey south Alabama prison. Rewind to November, and Alabama’s Gov. Kay Ivey was like “Pause! 🛑 Let’s see what’s up with these IVs.” Two executions had to be stopped because apparently, finding veins was as hard as finding a good Wi-Fi signal in a forest. Oh, and there’s talk that a third execution went a bit sideways, but Alabama’s giving that a big ol’ “Nope”. 🚫❓
Maya Foa, who’s super against the death penalty and heads the group Reprieve, chipped in with: “Given Alabama’s recent history of botched executions, it’s kinda wild that James Barber’s is even happening.” Okay, she didn’t say “kinda wild”, but that was the vibe. Barber’s rap sheet? The 2001 beatdown of 75-year-old Dorothy Epps with a claw hammer. Yikes. 🥺
But wait! There’s more drama. Barber’s lawyers have been ringing up the courts like “Yo, remember those messy injections? Can we not?”. But the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was like, “We checked it out. Should be cool.” That’s paraphrased, of course. But the door’s still open for a last-minute call to the U.S. Supreme Court. 📞👀
As you dive into this emotional rollercoaster, you’ve gotta wonder: is Alabama really ready for a comeback tour? Or is this just an encore of last year’s greatest hits (or misses)? Remember, Barber’s case comes hot on the heels of Oklahoma’s execution of Jemaine Cannon. The debate is real, the stakes are high, and the question lingers…
🔥🤷♂️ So, what do you think? Is Alabama on track or heading for another derailment? 🚂💥
