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April 19, 2018
Alabama completes execution of (record-old) murderer of federal judge
As reported here by CNN, "Alabama has executed Walter Leroy Moody, 83, who had been convicted of murder for the mail bombing death of a federal judge in 1989." Here is more:
Moody is the oldest person put to death since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, according to figures compiled by the Death Penalty Information Center.
Earlier Thursday, the Supreme Court denied the appeals from Moody's attorney after temporarily delaying his death by lethal injection.
Moody was convicted in 1996 for the murder of federal Judge Robert Vance in Birmingham, Alabama. "Moody has spent the better part of three decades trying to avoid justice. Tonight, Mr. Moody's appeals finally came to a rightful end. Justice has been served," Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said....
He was convicted in Alabama for sending a bomb that killed Vance, a federal appeals court judge. Moody, according to prosecutors, sought revenge on the court and the judge because they had previously refused to overturn his conviction in a 1972 bomb possession case.
He also was convicted in federal court in 1991 for killing Vance and for the bombing death of Robert Robinson, an NAACP attorney in Savannah, Georgia. He was sentenced to life in prison.
April 19, 2018 at 10:57 PM | Permalink
Comments
"He also was convicted in federal court in 1991 for killing Vance and for the bombing death of Robert Robinson, an NAACP attorney in Savannah, Georgia. He was sentenced to life in prison."
Jeff Sessions was state AG when he was prosecuted in AL and was federal AG when executed. It is somewhat curious me that after being sentenced to life in prison, he would be executed for state charges.
The overlap in the prosecutions seems to have strong double jeopardy implications, that is, if the two sovereign rule was not in place. A federal judge was murdered and the murder addressed by prosecution. In various cases, an argument can be made the state and federal interests warrant two prosecutions. Seems weaker here.
What "justice" requires is left to the reader. And, for certain people, afterlife.
Posted by: Joe | Apr 20, 2018 10:10:42 AM
