Alabama carried out its first execution on this date in 1812.....seven years before Alabama became a state.
Eli Norman was the first person hanged in Alabama on December 19, 1812 for a murder committed in Madison County. (There are some reports that his last name was Newman.--see "Notorious Antebellum North Alabama" by John O'Brien. Linked in: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-o-brien-800940129/)
Whatever his name, Norman or Newman, justice was fast in early Alabama.
- Norman had been put on trial on the second Monday in December, 12/7/1812
- Motion for a new trial was rejected on Thursday of that week, 12/10/1812
- Norman was sentenced to death the next day, Friday, 12/11/1812
- Norman was hanged on Saturday, December 19, 1812, 210 years ago today.
Executions since then, in Alabama:
554 Hangings,
153 Electrocutions,
and 1 Shooting.
More death penalty information HERE.
A new 2021 New York Times documentary tells the story of an Alabama man sentenced to death for the 2004 murders of three Birmingham police officers, even though he did not fire---or even touch---the murder weapon.
"In the annals of capital punishment, Mr. (Nathaniel) Woods is not the most sympathetic figure: a drug dealer whose evasive actions led to three deaths; who taunted one of the widows in a letter; who refused to show compassion, even at his sentencing. Still, just as jurors struggled with reading Mr. Woods’s impassive facial expression, so too does the law struggle with measures of punishment. How could it be that the armed man who killed three officers continues to live, while the unarmed man who fled dies?"
(From the N.Y. Times documentary "To Live and Die in Alabama")
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