(Montgomery, Ala.) (WDNews) – Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is asking the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals to intervene in four death penalty cases he says have been stalled in federal courts for years.
Marshall filed a petition last week urging the appellate court to require federal district courts to issue rulings in the cases, arguing the delays have prevented Alabama from carrying out court-ordered executions.
Under current legal precedent, the state generally cannot move forward with an execution until federal courts complete their review of a case. Marshall said some of those reviews have been pending for more than a decade.
“It pains us whenever a family member or friend of a victim calls to check on a case, and we have to say, again and again, that our hands are tied—we’re just waiting on a ruling. We’ve done our jobs, secured a conviction, defended it on appeal, and it’s past time for the federal courts to do theirs—or get out of the way,” stated Attorney General Marshall.
“At some point, judicial delay starts to look like judicial abolition of the death penalty. Not on my watch. I will not allow the State’s criminal cases, especially those involving the worst of the worst criminals, to remain neglected by the federal courts.”
According to the attorney general’s office, the four cases date back as far as 2010 and involve federal habeas petitions that remain unresolved despite multiple motions asking the courts to rule.
Charles Randall Stewart was sentenced to death for the 1990 murder of his ex-wife, Betty Lang, in Talladega County. Authorities said the killing occurred in front of the couple’s six-year-old son. Stewart filed a federal habeas petition in July 2014, and the case remains pending nearly 12 years later.
Michael Craig Maxwell was sentenced to death for the 1998 murders of Harold Pugh and his 11-year-old son, Joey Pugh, in Colbert County. Maxwell was convicted of four counts of capital murder. His federal habeas petition was filed in July 2010 and has been fully briefed since 2011, with additional briefings submitted in 2014 and 2024. The state has filed four motions requesting a ruling.
James Ben Brownfield was sentenced to death for the 2001 murders of Brenda McCutchin, her husband Latham McCutchin, and her three-year-old grandson Joshua Hodges in Jackson County. His federal habeas petition was fully briefed in December 2019, but the case remains undecided.
Kerry M. Spencer was sentenced to death for the 2004 murders of Birmingham police officers Carlos Owen, Harley A. Chisolm III, and Charles R. Bennett. Spencer was also convicted of the attempted murder of Officer Michael Collins. His federal habeas petition was filed in November 2016 and has been fully briefed since November 2017.
Marshall’s petition asks the Eleventh Circuit to require the federal district courts handling the cases to issue rulings, arguing that extended delays undermine the state’s criminal justice process and the resolution sought by victims’ families.
