Alabama executes inmate who killed gas station clerk for $250 in 1997 robbery

Alabama has executed an inmate convicted of killing an Etowah County gas station clerk in 1997 and stealing about $250.

Geoffrey Todd West was executed Thursday night at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore by being forced to inhale pure nitrogen gas, a method first used in Alabama last year and now the sixth time the state has employed it. West apologized for his crime in a final statement sent to reporters by his attorney after the execution.

“I am at peace because I know where I am going and look forward to seeing Mrs. Berry when I get there,” West, who declined to speak in the death chamber, said in his prepared statement.

His official time of death was 6:22 p.m.

The 50-year-old had been on Alabama Death Row for over 28 years for the March 1997 killing of Margaret Parrish Berry. He shot her in the head while she was lying on the floor behind the counter of a Chevron, according to court records.

The victim’s son, Will Berry, had delivered a petition to Gov. Kay Ivey on Tuesday asking the governor to spare his mother’s killer.

“I’m not a victim. I’m a survivor,” Berry said from the steps of the State House in Montgomery. “I don’t want this man to die,” he pleaded, and said he would like to have a relationship with West and his family.

“Vengeance isn’t for the state, it’s for the Lord,” said Will Berry. “Forgiveness is a commandment for us.”

Ivey, who didn’t grant Berry’s request, issued a statement after the execution to media.

“Almost 30 years ago, Margaret Parrish Berry went to work at the convenience store, but she would never get to return home,” Ivey said.

“Geoffrey West went in with the intent to rob and kill, and he cowardly shot Ms. Berry in the back of the head. Alabama law imposes death as punishment for the most egregious forms of murder, and there was no question of Mr. West’s guilt by the jury in this case or any court over the last three decades.”

Execution

The curtain to the execution chamber opened at 5:52 p.m. West faced the viewing room containing his attorney, Spencer Hahn, and five media witnesses. As the warden read West’s execution warrant and asked if he had any last words, West replied: “No sir.”

He nodded to his spiritual advisor, Father Patrick Madden, who was standing in the corner of the room in front of the gurney. West also gave a thumbs up to Hahn.

At 5:55 p.m., he smiled toward the spiritual advisor. Around the same time, a correctional officer appeared to check the seal of the gas mask around West’s face using his fingers.

Madden approached West’s feet to pray quickly and stepped away. West gave another thumbs up towards his sole witness, his attorney. He breathed deeply several times, and Madden nodded to him.

Around 5:58 p.m., West coughed and gasped deeply as his head rolled to the side. He appeared to foam at the mouth, and his left fist curled upward.

His face appeared purple as his head rolled back toward the witness room where reporters sat. His breathing became more even, as his hand remained curled.

At 6:01 p.m., West started a series of about eight deep, gulping breaths. Those breaths turned to shallow, smaller gasps around 6:02 p.m for about two minutes.

At 6:06 p.m., West appeared to have about a dozen small pulses in his torso. He appeared to stop moving about a minute later.

The curtains closed at 6:17 p.m.

Hahn said West’s funeral would be Saturday, and he would not undergo an autopsy.

Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm held a press conference after the execution. He said that the nitrogen flowed for five minutes past West’s flatline and that the execution went according to the department’s expectations.

“There’s always involuntary movement and everybody’s different, because we have seen a variation of movement in the six we’ve done. But yes, West was the least movement that we’ve seen.”

Hamm said he had no assessment of when West lost consciousness and couldn’t see West’s eyes or much of West’s face from his vantage point. He believed any visible movement from West was involuntary.

Final days and words

Hahn sent what he said was West’s final statement via email. It read, “I am sorry. I have apologized privately to the family of Margaret Parrish Berry, and am humbled by the forgiveness her son, Will, has extended.”

West said he was baptized as a Catholic this year and confirmed yesterday.

“I urge everyone, especially young people, to find God,” he said. “Spend a few moments to consider the two possibilities: this was all a fluke or there is a Creator and a reason for everything. Your choice will determine where you spend eternity.”

He added, “God bless you all.”

Another representative released a statement from Will Berry, the victim’s son, and his wife.

“We are stunned that this is happening. Please convey our condolences to his mother and the rest of his family. From what we understand, he acted out of character that night. People he grew up with said he was a good person who got off track. We pray that he gains peace when he meets his maker.”

A spokesperson for the Alabama Department of Corrections provided an update on West’s last day.

Wednesday, he had several visitors including his father, mother, spiritual advisor, stepfather, cousin, brother, and two nephews. He also talked on the phone with his mother and father.

He was seen eating vanilla cream cookies, an Almond Joy, two small sausage biscuits, peanut M&Ms, a chicken sandwich, sour cream potato chips, Skittles, and a pizza Hot Pocket. He drank a Dr. Pepper Zero, coffee and V8.

On Thursday, he was visited by his stepfather, mother, cousin, father, brother, two attorneys and his spiritual advisor. He didn’t make any phone calls.

He drank coffee, Coca-Cola and V8. He was seen eating Skittles, a sausage biscuit, a Twix bar, and chocolate chip cookies.

For West’s final meal, he requested chicken quesadillas.

The crime

Court records show that on the evening of March 27, 1997, West and his then-girlfriend drove to a Chevron gas station where he had previously worked on Noccalula Parkway in Etowah County. According to court records, West had told people that he planned to rob the gas station.

Berry, 33, was working at the Chevron as an attendant. Records state that West went into the store with a handgun, stole about $250 from a cookie can where the store’s money was kept, and shot Berry in the back of the head while she was lying on the floor behind the counter.

At his original trial, a jury voted 10-2 for the death penalty. West was 21 at the time of the crime.

Several years later, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals ordered that while West’s conviction would stand, he needed to be resentenced on procedural grounds. West was officially resentenced to the same punishment and sent back to Alabama Death Row to await execution.

Over the years, West and his lawyers filed several unsuccessful appeals.

Unlike many death row inmates, he did not file any new lawsuits after the Alabama Supreme Court authorized his execution to be scheduled by the governor. He had no pending court cases going into his execution day.

West has said he was desperate for cash when he robbed the Chevron three decades ago and regrets the decision daily. “I wish I had the opportunity just to swap places and let it be me and not her,” he told the Associated Press.

West said he wants other young people to know they have a choice to walk away from a situation that could affect the rest of their lives.

“If you don’t have nowhere else to go, go to church, find a priest, and just tell them everything. But just don’t do what I did, man,” West said. “You’ve got an option, even if you don’t feel like you’ve got an option.”

Forgiveness

One of Berry’s sons, Will Berry, was 11 when his mother was gunned down. And he’s now outspoken that he didn’t want the killer to die, too.

“I forgive this guy, and I don’t want him to die,” Will Berry said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press. “I don’t want the state to take revenge in my name or my family’s name for my mother.”

Will Berry was among other death penalty opponents who visited the State House on Tuesday to deliver the petition for clemency to the governor. “There shouldn’t be any more death. There should be healing and moving forward,” he said from Montgomery.

The victim’s son wrote in a previous letter to Ivey that executing West would “weigh heavily on me, and it would not bring my mother back.” While she didn’t respond to this week’s petition, Ivey responded in a letter earlier this month, saying that while she appreciated his belief, the law “imposes a death sentence for the most egregious form of murder.”

Ivey said in a statement released Thursday night, “As I expressed in a letter to one of Ms. Berry’s sons, it is my solemn duty as governor to carry out these laws. Tonight, the lawfully imposed death sentence has been carried out, justice has been served, and I pray for healing for all.”

Will Berry and West have exchanged letters, he said, but the prison system did not allow the two men to meet.

In an opinion piece circulated to local media outlets, Will Berry said his mother was the person he loved most in the world and her death “has cast a long shadow over my life.”

West’s attorneys from the Federal Defenders Office for the Middle District of Alabama sent a statement after his death. “Our thoughts are with his family, his friends, and all those who have stood by him throughout the many years of his legal battle. Our thoughts are also with Will Berry and the rest of the family of Mrs. Margaret Berry.”

“Our office has represented Mr. West for many years, and in that time we came to know a man who, despite his grave mistakes, came to understand the magnitude of his actions and the pain he caused. He sought forgiveness, both privately and publicly. His remorse was sincere.”

The attorneys also condemned the prison system for not allowing West to meet with Will Berry.

Executions in Alabama

West’s execution date was set for about a month after one that had been scheduled for David Lee Roberts, who was set to die by also breathing in pure nitrogen gas on August 21. But Roberts never walked into the execution chamber, after a Marion County judge ordered him to undergo a mental evaluation.

The local judge ordered the psychiatric testing in July, but the prison didn’t officially call off the execution until August 15.

After West, Alabama plans to execute Anthony Boyd in a month, on Oct. 23. He was convicted of burning a man alive in 1993 after tying him to a park bench in Talladega County.

His case is pending in federal court, as his lawyers fight the state’s nitrogen execution method and argue that using the state’s procedure as written could leave Boyd brain damaged or face other serious injuries but remain alive.

Boyd’s team, along with several other death row inmates who are suing the state, argue that the method, where an inmate breathes in nitrogen through a gas mask without any source of oxygen, could be problematic from the unknown parts of the state’s heavily redacted protocol. Boyd added that his asthma could also cause complications.

The inmates suing each chose the method over being killed with lethal injection in June 2018, when Alabama inmates had an option of switching their method.

The fall’s slew of execution dates comes after a record year in Alabama executions.

The Yellowhammer state led the nation in executions in 2024 by executing six people: Kenneth Smith, Jamie Mills, Keith Gavin, Alan Miller, Derrick Dearman, and Carey Grayson.

This year started with an execution in February, when Alabama executed Demetrius Terrence Frazier. The state was set to next execute Robin “Rocky” Myers, but in a rare move, Alabama Gov. Ivey commuted his sentence to life in prison.

James Osgood was executed in April, and on June 10, Gregory Hunt was put to death.

Roberts was scheduled to be the next, in August, but his execution was postponed.

Currently, there are 156 inmates on Alabama Death Row. Of those, five are women.

On Friday, anti-death penalty activists are set to unveil a new billboard in Montgomery opposing Boyd’s execution next month. The group, Execution Intervention Project, said in a press release that the billboard “is a cry of resistance” and others will be popping up across the state soon.

The Rev. Jeff Hood, founder of Execution Intervention project, said Boyd’s execution ” will be nothing less than an atrocity” and that he’s prepared to be in the execution chamber with Boyd as a spiritual advisor. “Our faith demands resistance to this machinery of death. This billboard is a warning: the blood of Anthony Boyd will be on all of our hands if we don’t act.”

In their statement Thursday night, the lawyers for the Federal Defenders said: “The execution of Mr. West demands that we reflect as a society: on how we handle capital punishment, on how age and life circumstances are considered, on how we balance justice, mercy, and the possibility of redemption. Without these reflections, we risk repeating injustice.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.