A federal judge in Alabama has declined to block a scheduled execution of an Alabama inmate.
U.S. Chief District Judge Emily Marks denied a request for a preliminary injunction on Sunday, meaning that Willie B. Smith III remains scheduled to receive a lethal injection on Thursday for crimes he committed in 1991.
Smith’s lawyers argued that their client should have been given more help to understand the paperwork that required him to select how he wanted to be executed. The Trump-nominated Marks ruled that despite Smith having an IQ under 80, he was not likely to prevail in the lawsuit brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Alabama lawmakers authorized nitrogen hypoxia as an execution method in 2018, meaning that death row inmates now select their execution method within a 30-day window.
