Nathaniel Woods, Man Executed In Alabama, Had Lyrics From A Dr. Dre Song Used Against Him During Trial
Nathaniel Woods, Man Executed In Alabama, Had Lyrics From A Dr. Dre Song Used Against Him During Trial
Source: Alabama Department of Corrections

Nathaniel Woods, Man Executed In Alabama, Had Lyrics From A Dr. Dre Song Used Against Him During Trial

Source: Alabama Department of Corrections

Nathaniel Woods was executed on Thursday for the death of three police officers.

Nathaniel Woods, a man convicted of killing three police officers in 2005, was executed on Thursday.

In a report from CNN, The 44-year-old Black man had been issued a temporary stay by the United States Supreme Court shortly before his execution was scheduled to take place. However, the stay was lifted after the Supreme Court denied to review Woods' case.

"A jury of Mr. Woods's peers convicted him of four counts of capital murder," Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said in a statement about why she didn't intervene in his execution. "In the past 15 years, his conviction has been reviewed at least nine times, and no court has found any reason to overturn the jury's decision."

Although Woods was convicted of killing the three police officers — Charles Bennett, Carlos "Curly" Owen, and Harley Chisholm III — he never actually fired the gun that led to their deaths. Kerry Spencer, his co-defendant and the man who actually killed the officers, told CNN that Woods was innocent, and explained how the cops ended up dead after they stormed the crack house he was sleeping in, in 2004.

"Nate is absolutely innocent," Spencer said. "That man didn't know I was going to shoot anybody just like I didn't know I was going to shoot anybody that day, period."

However, prosecutors argued that Woods wasn't an innocent bystander during his 2005 trial, telling the jury that he "hated law enforcement and had lured the officers into the house so Spencer could kill them," according to a report from The Appeal. The report also went on to note how prosecutors "called in witnesses who testified they'd heard Woods talking about his disgust for the police," and how they used lyrics from a Dr. Dre song ("High Powered") he had written on a piece of paper in his county jail cell against him.

By the end of the trial, Woods was convicted of capital murder. The Jury had recommended a death sentence, with 10 voting in favor of it while two opposed it.

Source: CNN

H/T: The Appeal

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