Supreme Court halts execution of Nathaniel Woods minutes before he was due to die

Nathaniel Woods faces the death penalty on 5 March, 2020, as an accomplice to the 2004 murder of three police officers and the attempted murder of a fourth (Alabama Department of Corrections)

The Supreme Court has issued a temporary stay of execution for a man facing the death penalty over three murders that he didn’t commit.

The state of Alabama was scheduled to execute Nathaniel Woods for capital murder, as a group led by family members and backed by Kim Kardashian-West urged the governor for an eleventh hour stay of execution.

It came instead from the Supreme Court, just minutes before the execution was due to take place.

Woods, 44, was set to die by lethal injection at the William C Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama. The Supreme Court ruling came through at 5.30pm, just 30 minutes before the execution was scheduled to take place.

In 2005, Woods was found guilty for his role in the 2004 deaths of three police officers in Birmingham, Alabama, and the attempted murder of a fourth. Another man, Kerry Spencer, was also convicted of the crime and is also on death row.

Mr Woods, prosecutors say, drew the four officers to an apartment where he and Spencer sold crack cocaine. It was there that Spencer, not Woods, shot the officers.

Officers Carlos Owen, Harley Chisholm III and Charles Bennett were killed, and officer Michael Collins was wounded.

In Alabama, being an accomplice in a murder can also result in a death sentence.

Kim Kardashian West tweeted her support for Woods (AFP via Getty Images)

Earlier, Kim Kardashian West used her social media presence to attempt to sway politicians into halting the killing.

Posting on Twitter, the reality TV star asked her 63.7 million followers to join a coalition calling for Woods to be saved.

The tweet read: "#NathanielWoods is scheduled to be executed in Alabama TONIGHT for murders he did NOT commit. Join the broad coalition- including members of the jury and relatives of the victims – in urging @GovernorKayIvey and @AGSteveMarshall to stay Nate’s execution."