{"id":12610,"date":"2025-07-03T23:12:54","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T23:12:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/?p=12610"},"modified":"2025-07-03T23:12:55","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T23:12:55","slug":"nitrogen-execution-set-for-man-convicted-of-killing-store-clerk-during-1997-robbery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/?p=12610","title":{"rendered":"Nitrogen execution set for man convicted of killing store clerk during 1997 robbery"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-testid=\"prism-article-body\">\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \"><span class=\"oyrPY qlwaB AGxeB  \">MONTGOMERY, Ala. &#8212; <\/span>Alabama has scheduled a September execution by nitrogen gas for a man convicted of killing a convenience store clerk during a 1997 robbery.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey set a Sept. 25 execution date for Geoffrey Todd West. West, now 49, is on the death row for killing Margaret Parrish Berry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Prosecutors said West drove to Harold\u2019s Chevron in Attalla with plans to rob the store where he once worked. Berry, 33, was shot in the back of the head while lying on the floor behind the counter, prosecutors said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Court records state that $250 was taken from a cookie can that held the store\u2019s money.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">A jury convicted West of capital murder and voted 10-2 to recommend a death sentence. A judge adopted the jury\u2019s recommendation and sentenced West to death. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Etowah County Circuit Judge William Cardwell during the 1999 sentencing said it was difficult to order the execution of a young man but said the shooting death was \u201cclearly deliberate and intentional, carried out execution style.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Prosecutors also charged West\u2019s girlfriend with the slaying. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 35 years in prison.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Alabama last year became <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/death-penalty-nitrogen-gas-alabama-kenneth-smith-54848cb06ce32d4b462a77b1bb25e656\">the first state<\/a> to carry out an execution with nitrogen gas, a method that involves pumping nitrogen through a face mask and depriving the inmate of oxygen. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The method has now been used in six executions \u2014 <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/death-penalty-nitrogen-10bcaf30f8616d2b6954df49b65cefa9\">five in Alabama<\/a> and <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/execution-louisiana-nitrogen-eb5e7e61ff0875dc7b68664b42b6e980\">one in Louisiana<\/a>. Alabama has scheduled <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/execution-alabama-death-penalty-cc7abfeba20ad2701f19ec6e665041e2\">another nitrogen execution in August. <\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">West was one of several Alabama inmates who selected nitrogen as their preferred execution method after state lawmakers authorized the method. He made the selection before Alabama developed procedures for the method.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MONTGOMERY, Ala. &#8212; Alabama has scheduled a September execution by nitrogen gas for a man convicted of killing a convenience store clerk during a 1997 robbery. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey set a Sept. 25 execution date for Geoffrey Todd West. West, now 49, is on the death row for killing Margaret Parrish Berry. Prosecutors said [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12610"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12612,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12610\/revisions\/12612"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}