(The Center Square) – Just three weeks after initiating a review of all death penalty cases in Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey has penned a letter to the state’s Supreme Court asking for an amendment to current rules.
The Republican governor penned a letter Monday to the chief justice and associate judges to propose an amendment to the court rule “that will improve the administration of capital punishment” in the state.
Ivey wrote that the state stopped executions on Monday, Nov. 21, following a pair of executions that were unable to be completed and that she and Corrections Commission John Hamm would be conducting a review of the system in place.
According to the letter, the review was taken to ensure the state could successfully carry out future executions.
Ivey pointed in the letter to a “longstanding court rule” that execution warrants are limited to a 24-hour period and currently prevents the Department of Corrections from stopping all execution efforts at midnight the day the event is scheduled.
Pointing to advice from her legal team, Ivey said that “many states and the federal government” have a different approach by allowing a longer period for the execution to take place or allowing an extension of that period in the event a stay-of-execution is ordered by the courts.
Ivey asked the court to consider such an amendment and her request was “you move as expeditiously as prudent given the importance” of the rule change.
At the time of the announcement, Ivey and Hamm said all options “were on the table,” including a legal strategy for handling last-minute appeals to how training and preparation are conducted to the order of events on execution day.
Ivey wrote that Hamm requested “assistance in increasing the amount of time” that is available to carry out executions. In several recent executions, Ivey wrote, “last-minute gamesmanship by death row inmates and their lawyers” have consumed too much time and have prevented the execution protocol from taking place.
Currently, according to the letter, executions are to be started at 6 p.m., and Hamm reported “he is evaluating options to change the protocol” and will be making his recommendations to the governor.
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