Alabama death row inmate, 49, who shot dead a man during 1993 robbery uses his final words before lethal injection to claim the prison warden is ‘a habitual abuser of women’
An Alabama death row inmate who killed a man during a robbery in 1993 has used his final words to sting the prison warden who oversaw his execution.
Casey McWhorter was pronounced dead after receiving a lethal injection at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore on Thursday just before 7 p.m.
The 49-year-old was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death for his role in the 1993 robbery and shooting of 34-year-old Edward Lee Williams.
In his final remarks, McWhorter said: “I would like to say that I love my mother and family. I want to say to the victim’s family that I am sorry. I hope you find peace.”
McWhorter also took a final shot at director Terry Raybon, who faced domestic violence allegations decades ago, adding, “It is not lost on me that a common woman abuser is performing this procedure.”
McWhorter, seen here, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death for his role in the 1993 robbery and shooting of Edward Lee Williams, 34
McWhorter was pronounced dead after receiving a lethal injection Thursday just before 7 p.m. at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama
According to ALREADYRaybon had been fired from the state police office in 1999 after a judge ruled he had “mercilessly beaten a woman.”
Raybon is also said to have been involved in a domestic violence altercation in 1998 after he allegedly hit a woman so badly that she required hospital treatment.
McWhorter, who was 18 at the time of the murder, had conspired with two other teenagers, including Williams’ 15-year-old son, to rob and kill him.
The jury that convicted McWhorter voted 10-2 to recommend a death sentence, which a judge, who had the final decision, imposed, according to court records.
The Younger Teens – Edward Lee Williams Jr. and Daniel Miner, who was 16 – were sentenced to life in prison, according to court records.
The curtain for the execution chamber at 6:30 p.m. with McWhorter strapped to a stretcher lying cross-shaped, according to the Montgomery Advertiser.
McWhorter moved slightly at the beginning of the procedure and rubbed his fingers together, but his breathing slowed until it was no longer visible.
Raybon read the governor’s death warrant and execution order and within nine minutes of opening the curtain, McWhorter had stopped breathing.
The newspaper also reported that a corrections officer in the death chamber leaned toward McWhorter’s ear and loudly shouted his name before squeezing his arm.
Prosecutors said McWhorter and Miner went to the Williamses’ home with guns and homemade silencers made from a pillow and a milk jug.
When the elder Williams arrived home and discovered the teens, he grabbed the gun Miner was holding.
They began to struggle over it and McWhorter fired the first shot at Williams, according to court documents. Williams was shot a total of eleven times.
McWhorter also took a final shot at director Terry Raybon, pictured here, in his final words after the director previously faced domestic violence allegations decades ago
Raybon read the governor’s death warrant and execution order and within nine minutes of opening the curtain, McWhorter had stopped breathing.
April Williams, the victim’s daughter, said her father should be spending time with his grandchildren today and enjoying his retirement.
In a statement read by Corrections Commissioner John Q. Hamm, she said, “Not a day goes by that I don’t think about him and how much I miss him.
“Casey McWhorter had several hours in that house to change his mind and not take my father’s life.”
In an interview with the Associated Press, McWhorter called himself a “confused child” and said, “If you come across something that doesn’t sit right at first, take a few seconds to think about it.
“Because one bad choice, one stupid mistake, one stupid decision can change your life – and what you care about – forever.”
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey said in a statement: “Edward Lee Williams’ life was taken by Casey A. McWhorter, and tonight Mr. McWhorter answered for his actions.”
The Rev. Jeff Hood, a death row minister who works with an anti-death penalty group, accompanied McWhorter to the execution chamber as his spiritual adviser.
He said, “It is not lost on me that he was a murderer, and so are all Alabamians tonight. I pray that we will all learn to stop killing each other.”
McWhorter had always said he did not intend to kill Williams, but Attorney General Steve Marshall said he shot him in the head while Williams lay on the ground.
He spent nearly thirty years on Alabama’s death row, making him one of the longest-serving inmates of the state’s 165 death row inmates.