Alabama set to execute man for 1997 store clerk killing by nitrogen gas

Geoffrey Todd West, 50, is scheduled to be executed Thursday night at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in southern Alabama for the 1997 shooting death of Margaret Parrish Berry, a 33-year-old store clerk who was working behind the counter at Harold’s Chevron in Etowah County when she was killed during a gas-station robbery. If carried out, the punishment would be the latest nitrogen-gas execution in the United States, a method Alabama approved in 2018. Texas also plans a lethal injection on the same evening.

Berry's death occurred on March 28, 1997; prosecutors said the killing was intended to prevent Berry from becoming a witness. About $250 was taken from a cookie can that held the store’s money. West’s girlfriend testified against him in exchange for a 35-year sentence for her role in the robbery and killing. A jury convicted West of capital murder during a robbery and recommended the death penalty by a 10-2 vote, a verdict the judge accepted. Etowah County Circuit Judge William Cardwell described the killing as intentional and carried out in an execution-style manner. West has not denied the killing; he has said he struggles to understand what he did when he was 21 and has expressed remorse, saying he would like to apologize to Berry’s family.

Berry’s two sons, including Will Berry, have pressed for clemency. Will Berry joined death-penalty opponents at a vigil outside the Alabama Capitol and delivered a petition to Gov. Kay Ivey asking that the execution be halted and West be allowed to serve life in prison instead. Ivey responded in a letter dated Sept. 11 that while she understands the family’s feelings, Alabama law imposes death as punishment for the most egregious forms of murder. She noted that she has commuted one death sentence during her eight years in office, but did so only because questions about the person’s guilt led her to doubt the sentence. West and Will Berry exchanged letters and had asked to meet before the execution, but the state denied the request for security reasons.

West chose nitrogen gas as his preferred method when Alabama lawmakers approved nitrogen gas as an execution method in 2018. The state later developed procedures for administering it, though it had not executed anyone by nitrogen gas until 2024. Since then, six people nationwide have been executed with nitrogen gas — five in Alabama and one in Louisiana. Lethal injection remains Alabama’s primary execution method.

This case unfolds as the state carries out one of two executions planned for Thursday night, highlighting the ongoing debate over capital punishment and the evolving use of nitrogen gas among U.S. jurisdictions. It also follows a broader national context in which several states have grappled with how to apply the death penalty in modern times, including considerations of guilt, mitigation, and the impact on victims’ families. The events come as Alabama’s governor and other state officials navigate public sentiment, legal challenges, and the administrative complexities of implementing a relatively new method of execution.