An Alabama inmate convicted of killing a man during a 1993 robbery when he was a teenager used his final moments to accuse his executioner of being a “habitual abuser of women”.
Casey McWhorter, 49, was pronounced dead at 6:56 pm at a southwest Alabama prison after being given a lethal injection.
McWhorter was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death for his role in the robbery and shooting death of Edward Lee Williams, 34, on Feb. 18, 1993.
McWhorter was strapped to the gurney with the intravenous lines already attached, moved slightly at the beginning of the procedure, rubbing his fingers together, but his breathing slowed until it was no longer visible.
“I would like to say I love my mother and family,” McWhorter said moments before he was executed. “I would like to say to the victim’s family I’m sorry. I hope you find peace.”
The 49-year-old’s final utterances then took a surprising turn when he took a swipe at his executioner, prison warden Terry Raybon, who faced domestic violence accusations decades ago, saying that “it’s not lost on me that a habitual abuser of women is carrying out this procedure”.
AL reports that Raybon had been fired from the state trooper’s office in 1999 after a judge ruled he had beaten “a woman mercilessly”.
Raybon is also said to have been involved in a “domestic violence altercation” in 1998 after he allegedly beat a woman so badly she needed hospital treatment.
Prosecutors said McWhorter, who was three months past his 18th birthday at the time of the killing, conspired with two younger teenagers, including Williams’ 15-year-old son, to steal money and other items from Williams’ home and then kill him.
The jury that convicted McWhorter recommended a death sentence by a vote of 10-2, 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.
Prosecutors said McWhorter, who was three months past his 18th birthday at the time of the killing, conspired with two younger teenagers, including Williams’ 15-year-old son, to steal money and other items from Williams’ home and then kill him.
When the older Williams arrived home and discovered the teens, he grabbed the rifle held by Miner. They began to struggle over it, and McWhorter fired the first shot at Williams, according to a summary of the crime in court filings.
Williams was shot a total of 11 times.
McWhorter spent nearly 30 years on Alabama’s death row, making him among the longest-serving inmates of the state’s 165 death row inmates.
“Edward Lee Williams’ life was taken away from him at the hands of Casey A. McWhorter, and tonight, Mr. McWhorter answered for his actions,” Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said in a statement.
April Williams, the victim’s daughter, said her father today should be spending time with his grandchildren and enjoying retirement.
“There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think about him and how I miss him,” April Williams said in a statement read by Corrections Commissioner John Q. Hamm. “Casey McWhorter had several hours in that house to change his mind from taking the life of my Dad.”
