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Nathaniel Woods executed for
2004 slayings of 3 Birmingham police officers
Updated Mar 05, 11:15 PM; Posted
Mar 05, 8:19 AM
By Ivana Hrynkiw | ihrynkiw@al.com
Nearly 16 years after Birmingham police officers Carlos Owen, Harley A. Chisholm III, and Charles R. Bennett were slain on what is known as the “Deadliest Day” in the history of the Birmingham Police Department, one of the convicted killers, Nathaniel Woods, was executed Thursday night despite outcries from groups and celebrities that he was not the one who fired the fatal bullets.
The execution took place at William C. Holman
Correctional Facility in Atmore. Woods, 43, was officially pronounced dead at
9:01 p.m.
The Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner
Jeff Dunn spoke following the execution. Chisholm’s sister Starr Sidelinker
spoke after Dunn, reading a statement written by Chisholm’s sister Rhonda
Hembd. “Partial justice has been served for our family today,” the statement
read. “Nathaniel Woods chose his fate on June 17, 2004. That horrific day could
have been prevented if he had any kind of compassion or respect for law
enforcement.”
“My brother Harley was a sweet, caring, honest,
hard-working, gentle loving man with a huge heart of gold,” a third sister,
Brenda Wicinski, said. “Our lives were shattered and our worlds turned upside
down on that horrific day.”
Her daughter-- Chisholm’s niece-- Amelia Wicinski,
also spoke and thanked the state of Alabama and the Birmingham Police
Department. She called the department “family," and ended with the
department’s West Precinct slogan “West is best.”
Susan Bennett, the wife of officer Bennett, also spoke. “I’m not here to make a statement in regard to what has already has happened tonight," she said. “This will never ever bring closure and it certainly won’t bring Rob, Carlos or Harley back.”
She stood at the podium with her daughter, her brother, and Bennett’s sister.
“He was truly a great and a Godly man," Susan Bennett said. "It has been said that a man is not dead while his name is spoken… On behalf of my family, I would like to thank those who continue to keep Rob’s memory alive, as well as Carlos and Harley.”
Owen’s son, Greg Owens, released a statement on Facebook. “My father has missed so much over the years. I am sure he would have loved to have seen my son, his grandson graduate from high school, from the Police Academy, and he would have loved to attend my son’s wedding. I am sure he would have been thrilled to see my daughter, his granddaughter graduate from high school, take the stage at The Miss Alabama Pageant, go onto the field as a Blazerette in Legion Field with the UAB Marching band in the stadium a few blocks from where he lived the first seventeen years of his life,” Greg Owens wrote. “I am also sure he would be amazed that he inspired his granddaughter to create a non-profit organization from his action of keeping stuffed animals and snacks in his patrol car to give to children he encountered during his daily patrols on his police beat.”
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued a statement on the execution, which she had earlier declined a request to stop. “Under Alabama law, someone who helps kill a police officer is just as guilty as the person who directly commits the crime. Since 1983, Alabama has executed two individuals for being an accomplice to capital murder.
“After thorough and careful consideration of the
facts surrounding the case, the initial jury’s decision, the many legal
challenges and reviews, I concluded that the state of Alabama should carry out
Mr. Woods’ lawfully imposed sentence this evening.
“This is not a decision that I take lightly, but I
firmly believe in the rule of law and that justice must be served. My thoughts
and most sincere prayers are for the families of Officers Chisholm, Owen and
Bennett. May the God of all comfort be with these families as they continue to
find peace and heal from this terrible crime.”
The execution proceeded after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a temporary stay of execution for Woods earlier in the evening. At approximately 7:06 p.m, attorneys for Woods filed a second petition to the high court, again asking for a stay of execution and a review of the case. In the second petition, Woods claims he’s had ineffective counsel. “Mr. Woods has never had the benefit of competent, conflict-free counsel to investigate and present his constitutional claims, so the public cannot be assured that his proceedings have adhered to the Constitution,” a new team of defense attorneys wrote in their filing.
The Alabama Attorney General’s Office said in a response to the court that the stay was “unwarranted." Their response stated, “First, Woods is not entitled to a stay because his motion is extraordinarily untimely. Second, he cannot show a substantial likelihood of success on the merits. Thus, the motion is due to be denied.”
At approximately 7:52 p.m., the court lifted the original stay of execution and declined to review the case. They denied the second case as well.
The execution
The curtains to the viewing room opened at 8:37 p.m. While Woods’ imam was set to attend the execution, that person did not attend. Woods did not have any last words, and no one from his family or friends were present to witness the execution.
Following the warden’s reading of the death warrant, Woods sat up on the gurney and stared straight ahead to one of the three viewing rooms. As the warden left the room, Woods laid his head down. At 8:40 p.m., Woods sat back up and began mouthing words. His fists were clenched, while his right hand index finger was stuck out in an apparent sign of his Islamic faith.
At 8:43 p.m. Woods laid his head back down on the
gurney and stared to his right. He lifted his head and laid down again once
more, minutes later.
Woods moved his arms against the restraints before the 8:45 p.m. consciousness check, but did not respond to the consciousness check. Minutes later, Woods’ left arm jerked upwards against his restraint. His arm fell, and no movement was seen following that moment.
The Alabama Department of Corrections Public Information Specialist Samantha Rose detailed Woods’ visitors and phone calls for the past 24 hours. She said Woods was visited Wednesday by his mother, sister, and two nephews. Thursday, he was visited by his father, sister, two nephews, and his daughter.
Woods had four phone calls on Wednesday-- one to
his mom, one to his father, and two to his friend. Thursday he had three phone
calls-- two with friends and one with his mom.
Woods refused his breakfast, Rose said. The
breakfast meal consisted of milk, eggs, syrup, prunes, two biscuits, and
oatmeal. He did request a final meal of sweet potatoes, spinach, a chicken
patty, a chicken leg quarter, cooked apples, fries, two oranges, and an
orange-flavored drink. According to Rose, Woods ate just one bite of the
chicken leg quarter and did not eat any of the other items.
Holman houses all male death row inmates and holds
the state’s only execution chamber.
Groups and advocates stepped up efforts to ask for a halt to the execution, including Martin Luther King III, celebrity Kim Kardashian West, and former NFL star O.J. Simpson, who himself was acquitted in a double murder.
Advocates and family members for Woods delivered letters to Ivey’s office Wednesday afternoon. They argue Woods did not shoot the officers and shouldn’t be executed; but, prosecutors said during the 2005 trial that while Woods did not fire the shots, he helped set up the ambush for the man – Kerry M. Spencer - who did kill the officers. Advocates for Woods said there was no evidence of a plan to lure the officers into a trap and that Spencer acted alone.
U.S. Sen Doug Jones tweeted about the case, saying a “delay is warranted.” Jones reached out to Gov. Kay Ivey’s office on Thursday, he said in the statement.
“I think everyone knows my background and that I believe strongly in justice. Given the questions and mitigating issues involved in this case- and the finality of a death sentence- a delay is warranted to provide time for a thorough review of all the facts and circumstances to truly ensure that justice is done," the senator tweeted.
Woods appealed to the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals to stop his execution, arguing that the state of Alabama withheld information when Woods was given the option of changing his execution method in 2018. That court denied his claim Wednesday night and the issue was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Thursday morning a federal judge also denied Woods’ motion for a 90-day stay of execution based on a claim of ineffective counsel. Woods’ attorneys immediately appealed that ruling to the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. That court later again denied Woods’ request: “Yet Woods inexplicably waited almost one year after the grant, months after the argument, more than a month after his execution was set, and until the day of his scheduled execution to seek authorization for a second or successive petition and to ask for a stay. The equities strongly disfavor such abusive tactics,” 11th Circuit Judge Bill Pryor, a former Alabama Attorney General, wrote in his order.
In the first Eleventh Circuit filing, Woods’ attorneys wrote that Alabama “scheduled Mr. Woods’ execution based on the arbitrary and erroneous determination that he knowingly and voluntarily did not choose to be executed via nitrogen hypoxia—a decision he did not make due to the State’s unconstitutional withholding of vital information.” The filing claims that the state violated Wood’s Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, the Alabama State Constitution, and state law.
The AG’s Office filed a reply to the appellate court, calling the case “straightforward” and saying the oral arguments Woods’ team requested are not necessary. The office also filed a response to the U.S. Supreme Court, again saying Woods waited too late, and his motion for a review and stay by SCOTUS are meritless. “Not until January 31, the day after Woods’s execution was set, did he submit an election form to the warden—nineteen months after the election period closed. And not until February 24 did Woods move the (federal) district court to stay his scheduled March 5 execution, even though he had known since February 14 that the Alabama Supreme Court was disinclined to do so.”
Conviction
Woods was convicted in December 2005 of capital
murder for the June 17, 2004 shooting deaths of Birmingham police officers
Carlos Owen, Harley A. Chisholm III, and Charles R. Bennett while they were
serving a warrant at an apartment in Ensley. He also was convicted of the
attempted murder of Officer Michael Collins.
It was the deadliest day in the Birmingham police
department’s history.
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The three slain
officers, from left to right: Carlos "Curly" Owen, 58; Harley Alfred
Chisholm III, 40; Charles Robert Bennett, 33. (File)
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The jury recommended by a vote of 10 to 2 that Woods be sentenced to death. The judge followed the jury’s recommendation and sent Woods to death row.
Woods’s co-defendant, Spencer, was also convicted
of capital murder and was sentenced to death. He is awaiting an execution date,
and opted into the state’s newly approved method of execution by nitrogen
hypoxia in 2018.
The defense team and prosecutors agree it was
Spencer, not Woods, who shot the officers.
In court records from the AG’s Office, prosecutors argued Woods was not a model inmate while awaiting trial. Six months after the murders, records state Woods told a deputy sheriff that the deputy was “hiding behind [his] badge just like the other three mother f******” and promised to look for him if Woods was acquitted. In 2005, deputies found drawings in Woods’ cell of men shooting three flaming skulls and a police car riddled with bullet holes. Deputies also found lyrics to a song Woods had apparently written: “Seven execution styles murders I have no remorse because I’m the f****** murderer.”
Woods’ convictions and sentence were affirmed by the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals and the Alabama Supreme Court, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case at the time. A later appeal was dismissed in 2010, and again that was affirmed by the appeals court and the Alabama Supreme Court didn’t review the case.
Another attempt at an appeal in 2016 was denied two years later.
The Alabama Attorney General’s Office requested an execution date from the Alabama Supreme Court in October, and in January the court set Woods’ execution date as March 5.
The appeals
In his latest appeals, Woods case has been focused around nitrogen hypoxia. No Alabama inmates have been executed by the new method, and a state protocol for the nitrogen hypoxia executions has not yet been developed.
In 2018, Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill giving inmates the option to choose execution by nitrogen hypoxia. According to the state, inmates waiting to be executed were allowed to opt in the nitrogen method if they wished, but had to do so within a 30-day period in June 2018. Of the 177 inmates on Alabama’s Death Row, more than 50 inmates chose to die by the new method.
Earlier this year, Woods asked the federal court in
Montgomery to declare the Alabama Department of Corrections and the state’s
actions surrounding the hypoxia elections as “unlawful and
unconstitutional," according to a court filing, and for a stay of
execution; but, a judge dismissed his case on Monday afternoon and ruled in
favor of the state.
“While a death row inmate may challenge the
constitutionality of his execution through a civil action, a stay ‘is not
available as a matter of right,’ even if execution is imminent,” Chief U.S.
District Judge for the Middle District of Alabama Emily Marks wrote in her
order. “Based on the foregoing principles, a stay of execution is not
warranted.”
“Despite ongoing litigation in this Court when his execution date was set, Woods waited until February 24, 2020—ten days before his scheduled execution—to file his motion for a stay of execution… Woods has not offered, and the Court has not found, a justification for the last-minute nature of his motion. As a result, Woods’ motion is due to be denied based on its untimeliness alone,” the judge ordered.
In his federal court petition, Woods claims he was
“targeted” for execution sooner than other inmates for failing to change his
method of execution. The filing says the state “suppressed vital information”
and didn’t provide Woods time to talk to his attorney about the newly approved
method of execution during the June 2018 period inmates had to sign up for the
new method.
The Alabama Attorney General’s Office denied the claim, adding that Woods isn’t actually trying to elect nitrogen hypoxia, but rather wants more time to decide.
Woods argued that he wasn’t given the full protocol or time to consult with his attorneys regarding nitrogen hypoxia. The AG’s Office said Woods wasn’t barred from speaking to his attorneys, and if he didn’t speak with them about the hypoxia elections, that was Woods’ decision.
“Woods has no right to choose the date of his execution,” the state claims, “but (the state has) every right to see that his sentence is carried out.”
According to an attorney for Woods, Lauren Faraino, Ivey denied to commute Woods’ sentence on Thursday.
“Governor Ivey does not presently intend to exercise her powers of commutation or reprieve in this case,” according to a letter from the governor to Faraino. The attorney attached the letter to an email sent to media.
“While Governor Ivey reserves the right to grant clemency at any time before an execution is carried out, she has determined, based on her review of the complete record, including the matters presented in your letter, that clemency for Mr. Woods at this hour is unwarranted,” the letter stated.
Deadly day
Court records detail the incident that left the
three police officers dead on June 17, 2004 when the four Birmingham police
officers were in the process of arresting and taking into custody Woods at a
west Birmingham apartment, where he lived and dealt drugs with Spencer. Woods
was being arrested for an outstanding misdemeanor warrant in Fairfield. On
multiple occasions Woods shouted and cursed at the officers, records state, and
told Owen he would “f*** him up.”
A federal court filing from the AG’s Office details
the crime, saying Chisholm, Owen, and Collins arrived at Woods’ apartment to
serve the warrant, where they met Bennett. It reads:
“Officers Chisholm and Bennett went to the front door, while Officers Collins and Owen went to the back door. Woods, who was still standing behind his screen door, began to curse again and told the officers to leave. Officer Owen informed Woods that they had a warrant for his arrest and that he needed to come outside. Woods refused, even after the officers showed him the NCIC printout and his mugshot. He told the officers, ‘If you come in here, we’ll f*** you up.’ Suddenly, Woods turned and ran deeper into the apartment. Officer Chisholm followed Woods from the front, while Officers Collins and Owen entered via the rear door. None of the officers had their weapons drawn. Woods quickly surrendered, asking the men not to spray him with mace. Officer Collins ran to the back door, planning to join Officer Bennett at the front and assist him when the others brought Woods outside. Instead, he heard shuffling behind him, then gunfire. Though shot, Officer Collins ran to his patrol car for cover, where he radioed a ‘double aught’ call for all possible assistance. From his car, Officer Collins saw Kerry ‘Nookie’ Spencer, Woods’s roommate, standing in the doorway and shooting in his direction. Several bullets hit the vehicle. By the time help arrived, the other three officers were dead. Officer Bennett was discovered with a smoking hole in his face, and Officers Owen and Chisholm were found in the apartment. Each had died from multiple gunshot wounds. Responding officers found an SKS assault rifle in the grass outside, a handgun in the bathroom, and two long guns in a bedroom. The officers’ bulletproof vests had been pierced, typical of damage sustained by high-powered rifle fire.”
Another motion states that when Woods was located
later that day, “he was sitting with other men on the porch of (a neighbor’s)
house nearby, apparently ‘very relaxed.’ He gave his full name and was found to
have two .22 caliber bullets in his pocket. Kerry Spencer was eventually pulled
out of (the neighbor’s) attic.”
A “doorman" at the drug house testified Woods and Spencer sold mostly crack cocaine to 100-150 customers per day, according to court records.
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