Alabama to execute inmate if last-minute appeals fail

Authorities in the US state of Alabama were planning Thursday to execute a man who was convicted of murder 30 years ago, despite him winning a last-minute reprieve a day earlier.

Willie Smith, 52, was convicted of the 1991 slaying of a 22-year-old woman in Birmingham, the most populous city in the southern state, after robbing her at gunpoint at an ATM.

Smith's lawyers over the decades have challenged his death sentence, arguing he has a below-average mental capacity.

As the execution date approached, lawyers filed a fresh slew of appeals challenging the fact Smith's personal chaplain would not be allowed in the death chamber and challenging protocol changes prison authorities adopted because of Covid-19.

A federal appeals court ruled in Smith's favor Wednesday, issuing a temporary stay of execution, but Alabama authorities filed another appeal Thursday with the US Supreme Court.

If the execution proceeds, it would be the first time a US state has carried out the death penalty in 2021.

Former president Donald Trump's administration resumed federal executions last July, carrying out 13 death-penalty sentences in seven months, including three in January.

Federal executions have been paused under President Joe Biden, who opposes the death penalty.

Capital punishment has been abolished in 22 states, while three others -- California, Oregon and Pennsylvania -- have observed a moratorium on its use.

Virginia lawmakers have passed bills to end the death penalty and the governor has said he will sign the legislation once it is complete.