Alabama death row inmate Willie B. Smith III’s execution set for Feb. 11

Willie B. Smith III

Willie B. Smith III

A state death row inmate who was one of three people convicted of murdering a Birmingham woman nearly 30 years ago is scheduled to be executed in February, according to an Alabama Supreme Court order issued Tuesday.

Willie B. Smith III, 51, was sentenced to death in 1992 for the October 1991 abduction, robbery and murder of Sharma Ruth Johnson, 22. Johnson was shot execution style at a cemetery; her body was found in the trunk of her burned car with a shotgun wound to her head. Smith and two men stole Johnson’s bank card and used it to withdraw $100 from an ATM on Parkway East in Birmingham.

Smith, who is serving his death sentence at Holman Prison, is set to be executed Feb. 11, according to an 8-0 Alabama Supreme Court ruling issued Tuesday. One justice recused themselves from the ruling.

The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals denied Smith’s appeal of his death sentence in 2012. He argued that he could not be executed because he is intellectually disabled, but the court rejected the claim.

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