Alabama Resumes Lethal Injections, Executes Man for 2001 Beating Death

Alabama executed James Barber, a man convicted of beating a 75-year-old woman to death in 2001, as the state resumed lethal injections after a review of procedures. Barber was pronounced dead after receiving a lethal injection at a south Alabama prison. The execution comes after two failed attempts prompted the governor to order an internal review. Barber's attorneys had sought to block the execution, claiming a pattern of constitutional violations in the state's lethal injection process. The Supreme Court denied Barber's request for a stay, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissenting.