A death row killer is set to be executed in 48 hours but his victim's family is desperate to save him.
Joe Nathan James Jr murdered his ex-girlfriend Faith Hall nearly 30 years ago and is due to die by lethal injection on Thursday.
The 49-year-old saw a last-minute appeal dismissed by a judge yesterday - but Ms Hall's daughters and brother say going ahead with the execution will not be justice for her.
James shot dead his former partner after breaking down her friend's apartment door on August 15, 1994 in Birmingham, Alabama, USA.
He was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in 1996, then again following a retrial in 1999.
He is being held at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore.
Hall’s family is asking Governor Kay Ivey and the Alabama Attorney General’s Office to commute James’ death sentence to one of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
"Taking his life will not bring my mother back," daughter Toni Melton said, reports 6WBRC.
“This is not justice. This is just another family going through a loss like we did.”
She added that James knowing the day he will die must be "pure torture".
Brother Helvetius Hall said he was 24 when his sister, 26, died, while Toni was just three, and her sister Terry, six.
He described a relationship that was "going bad" and which resulted in James stalking his sister before taking her life.
“Who are we to suggest to take another person’s life? He took someone special from us, but we have forgave him,” he added.
State Representative Juandalynn Givan sent a letter to the governor on Friday requesting a stay of execution.
US Southern District Judge Terry F. Moorer dismissed James' motion for a stay on Monday, saying the inmate “has not carried his burden of persuasion”, reports AL.com.
The dismissed case is one of several James has filed, including claiming the state violated his rights by starting the execution process with several appeals pending and no Certificate of Judgement issued.
James also wants the prison to honour his choice of method.
On July 17 he requested to be killed by nitrogen hypoxia, though there is not yet a state-approved process for deaths in that manner anywhere in the US, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
In a nitrogen hypoxia execution, the prisoner would breathe pure nitrogen, depriving his or her body of oxygen and causing asphyxiation.
Its proponents argue it is a more humane method of execution, but it cannot ethically be tested.
However, in 2018, Gov. Ivey signed a bill giving inmates the option to choose execution by nitrogen hypoxia.
Of the 177 inmates on Alabama's Death Row, at least 50 chose the new method during a 30-day time frame.
But James missed the cut-off by several years.
Judge Moorer suggested James is simply trying to create a "never ending loop of litigation in order to simply stall the execution date indefinitely".
“In short, the mere filing of a lawsuit does not create an automatic ‘pause’ on the ability of the state to execute an inmate subject to a sentence of death,” he added.
James is now appealing to the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
