An Alabama inmate convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend decades ago was executed Thursday night despite pleas from the victim’s family to spare his life. Joe Nathan James Jr. was fatally injected in a south Alabama prison after the US Supreme Court rejected his request for a stay. Officials said he was pronounced dead at 9:27 p.m. since the start of the execution was delayed by almost three hours. James, 50, was convicted and sentenced to death in the 1994 shooting death of Faith Hall, 26, in Birmingham. Hall’s daughters said they would prefer he serve a life sentence, but Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said Wednesday she planned to let the execution go ahead. Prosecutors said James briefly dated Hall and became obsessed after she rejected him, stalking and harassing her for months before killing her. On Aug. 15, 1994, after Hall had gone shopping with a friend, James forced his way into his friend’s apartment, pulled a gun from his waistband and shot Hall three times, according to court documents. Hall’s two daughters, who were 3 and 6 when their mother was killed, said they wanted James to serve life in prison rather than be executed. Family members do not attend the execution. “Today is a tragic day for our family. We have to relive the hurt that was inflicted on us so many years ago,” said the statement issued through the office of state Rep. Juandalynn Givan. Givan was a friend of Hall’s. “We hoped that the state would not take a life simply because a life was taken and we have forgiven Mr. Joe Nathan James Jr. for his atrocities to our family… We pray that God will allow us to find healing after today and that one day our criminal justice system will hear the cries of families like ours, even if it goes against what the state wants,” the family’s statement read. Ivey said Thursday that she always deeply considers the feelings of the victim’s family and loved ones, but “we must always fulfill our responsibility to the law, public safety and justice.” “Faith Hall, the victim of repeated harassment, serious threats, and ultimately cold blooded murder, was taken from this earth too soon at the hands of Joe Nathan James, Jr. Now, after two convictions, a unanimous jury verdict and nearly three decades on death row, Mr. James has been executed for capital murder and justice has been served for Faith Hall. He said the execution sends an “unmistakable message that Alabama stands with victims of domestic violence.” The execution began a few minutes after 9 p.m. CDT after a nearly three-hour delay. James did not open his eyes or show any deliberate movements at any point in the process. He did not speak when the warden asked if he had any last words. His breathing became labored, with deep pulsating breaths and slowed until it was not visible. Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Hamm, in response to a question about why the execution was delayed, said the state is “very deliberate in our process to make sure everything goes according to plan.” He did not provide further details. Hamm also said James, who showed no movement at any point, was not drugged. The execution took place in a prison that houses the state’s death row. An inmate posted signs on a cell window calling the execution “murder.” A Jefferson County jury first convicted James of manslaughter in 1996 and voted in favor of the death penalty, which a judge imposed. The conviction was overturned when a state appeals court ruled that a judge had wrongly admitted some police reports into evidence. James was retried and sentenced to death again in 1999 when jurors rejected defense claims that he was under emotional stress at the time of the shooting. James acted as his own lawyer in an attempt to stay his execution, mailing handwritten lawsuits and notices of appeal to the courts from the death sentence. A lawyer filed the latest appeal to the US Supreme Court on his behalf on Wednesday. But the request for a stay was rejected about 30 minutes before the execution began. James asked the justices for a stay, noting the opposition of Hall’s family and arguing that Alabama did not adequately notify inmates of their right to choose an alternative method of execution. He also argued that Ivey’s refusal violates religious freedom laws because the Koran and the Bible “put the concept of forgiveness paramount in this situation.” The state argued that James waited too late to begin trying to delay his execution and “should not be rewarded for his transparent attempt to game the system.”
