Alabama man scheduled to be executed for the killing of a man he tried to rob

ATMORE, Ala. (WBRC) - Barring any delays, 48 year old Casey McWhorter is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m.

McWhorter was convicted of capital murder for his role in the 1993 robbery and shooting death of Edward Lee Williams in Marshall County.

His fate was decided by a 10-2 jury. Alabama is one of only two states where a jury does not have to be unanimous in that decision. McWhorter the 2nd person to be executed this year in Alabama.

McWhorter’s attorneys have filed two appeals to stay his execution - The first to the Alabama Supreme Court alleging McWhorter was not notified 30 days ahead of his execution date. The 2nd appeal filed to the US supreme court alleges that McWhorter was a juvenile at the time of his crime, yet was tried as an adult. McWhorter was three months past his 18th birthday when he killed Williams. In Alabama, the age you’re officially considered an adult is 19.

One advocacy group Wednesday was petitioning at the state capitol to have McWhorter’s execution halted.

“It’s things like this, you know nothing excuses his crime, but the question is do we need to be executing people like Casey McWhorter?” says Abraham Bonowitz, Executive Director for Death Penalty Action. “Do we need to kill him in order to be safe from him or to hold him accountable?”

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