A cop killer raised both middle fingers as he was put to death Thursday by lethal injection in Alabama. Torrey Twane McNabb, 40, was just 20 years old when he shot and killed Montgomery police officer Anderson Gordon in 1997.
McNabb shot Gordon 5 times as he sat in his patrol car after arriving at a traffic accident that McNabb caused while fleeing a bail bondsman.
In his final statement before his execution, McNabb told his mother and sister that he was unafraid. “Mom, sis, look at my eyes. I got no tears. I am unafraid,” he said. “To the state of Alabama, “I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!”
As the drugs coursed through his veins, McNabb raised his middle fingers and began to breathe heavily before falling asleep. He was pronounced dead at 9:38 p.m. CDT, according to the NY Daily News.
The U.S. Supreme Court delayed the execution for several hours to consider McNabb’s attorney’s request to stay the execution on the grounds that the state’s lethal injection procedure is inhumane.
The lawyer argued that one of the drugs — the sedative Midazolam — does not reliably render a person completely unconscious before administering the drugs that stop the heart and the respirations.
But the Supreme Court denied the stay of execution.
Montgomery Advertiser reporter Brian Lyman, who witnessed the execution, said McNabb’s arm jerked during the first 20 minutes.
But Alabama’s Department of Corrections Commissioner Jefferson Dunn said, “I’m confident he was more than unconscious at that point. Involuntary movement is not uncommon.”
