Matthew Reeves executed by lethal injection in Alabama (January 27, 2022)

Death Row inmate Matthew Reeves, 44, had claimed his 'intellectual disability' meant he did not understand he had accepted death by lethal injection as opposed to an alternative method using nitrogen hypoxia recently legalized in the state

            On this date, January 27, 2022, Matthew Reeveswas executed by lethal injection in Alabama. He was convicted of murdering taxi driver, Willie Johnson in 1996.

lethal injection after SCOTUS rejects claim killer with 'language skills of a 4-year-old' did not understand paperwork allowing him to die by less 'tortuous' nitrogen hypoxia

·         Death Row inmate Matthew Reeves was executed at Holman Prison, Alabama 

·         He was convicted of capital murder of taxi driver Willie Johnson in Selma in 1996 

·         Defence lawyers claimed Reeves had an 'intellectual disability', meaning he did not understand forms he was asked to fill out regarding his execution options

·         Supreme Court ruled he had proper counsel and allowed execution to proceed 

By Jacob Thorburn For Mailonline

Published: 19:57 AEDT, 28 January 2022 | Updated: 00:51 AEDT, 29 January 2022

An Alabamaman was executed Thursday for brutally murdering a taxi driver who gave him a ride more than 25 years ago.

Death Row inmate Matthew Reeves, 44, had claimed his 'intellectual disability' meant he did not understand forms asking him to choose either death by lethal injection or an alternative method using nitrogen hypoxia. 

Defense lawyers had claimed Reeves had a reading capacity of a first-grader and the language skills of a four-year-old. 

But the Supreme Court rejected this plea on Thursday, voting 5 to 4 that Reeves was intellectually sound enough to comprehend the forms.

He declined his last meal and was executed hours later at Holman Correctional Facility at 9.24pm local time according to Steve Marshall, Alabama's Attorney General.

Reeves was sentenced to death for robbing and then fatally shooting taxi driver Willie Johnson after he had collected the then 18-year-old Reeves on a rural highway in Dallas County, Alabama.

It was reported the teenager went to a party after murdering Mr Johnson with a shotgun, where he danced and re-enacted the killing while still covered in the taxi driver's blood in 1996.

Reeves gave no final words before his execution and only requested a bottle of Sprite.

Questions persisted over the defendant's intellectual capacity after his planned execution was delayed by an Alabama federal judge and then the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. 

Suing under the Americans with Disabilities Act, Reeves' lawyers tried to claim he was intellectually disabled and lacked the comprehension skills of an adult.

Instead of choosing a 'torturous' lethal injection, Reeves would have chosen to die by newly legalized nitrogen hypoxia, but was never given assistance in filling out the relevant forms, his lawyers claimed. 

The case was heard at the Supreme Court after an appeal by the Alabama Attorney General's Office.

America's highest court tossed out the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals' decision on Thursday evening and ruled the execution could go ahead as Reeves did in fact have effective counsel at trial. 

But Justice Amy Coney Barrett noted she would deny the state’s petition, while Justice Elena Kagan, Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Stephen Breyer, who has announced his retirement, also dissented.  

Justice Kagan wrote: 'This Court should have left the matter there, rather than enable Reeves’s execution by lethal injection to go forward.' 

Mr Johnson had picked up Reeves and a group of others as they were at the roadside in Selma, before he was robbed of $360 and shot in the neck.  

Reeves later went to a party and bragged about getting a 'teardrop tattoo' to signify he had killed another person, a court heard. Meanwhile, Johnson's body was discovered in his truck on Thanksgiving. 

Snakes are poisonous wherever they are. You can't underestimate a snake just because there's only one. It's dangerous wherever it is. - Ashin Wirathu

Commissioner John Hamm, speaking on behalf of Mr Johnson's family, said in a statement: 'After 26 years, justice has finally been served.' 

Execution by nitrogen hypoxia has been legal in Alabama since 2018, but has not yet been used by the state.  

INTERNET SOURCE: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10451351/Alabama-man-executed-1996-taxi-driver-death-Supreme-Court-intervened-case.html

RELATED LINKS:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Reeves

https://thecrimereport.org/2022/01/28/supreme-court-approves-alabama-lethal-injection-execution/

OTHER LINKS:

See also

• List of people executed in the United States in 2022