Alabama executes man with nitrogen gas for 1997 shooting death of store clerk

Audio By Carbonatix

ATMORE Ala. (AP) — An Alabama man convicted of killing a woman during a 1997 gas station robbery was put to death Thursday after apologizing to the family and pleas from the victim’s son to spare his life.

Geoffrey Todd West, 50, was executed at William C. Holman Correctional Facility by nitrogen gas, a method Alabama began using last year. It was one of two executions on the night in the country, as Texas put to death a man convicted of killing his girlfriend’s 13-month-old daughter.

West said “No sir” when asked by the warden if he had final words. Strapped to the gurney with a blue-rimmed gas mask covering his face, he gave a thumbs-up in the direction of his attorney, who was seated in a viewing room, as the execution began at about 5:56 p.m.

West's eyes were open as he appeared to gasp and struggle for breath during the first two minutes of the execution. His head rocked to the side, his left fist curled up and he appeared to slightly foam at the mouth.

At about 6:01 he began to take a long series of breaths with frequent pauses before becoming still at about 6:07. He was pronounced dead at 6:22.

In a final statement provided by his attorney, West said: “I have apologized privately to the family of Margaret Parrish Berry, and am humbled by the forgiveness her son, Will, has extended.”

He added that he was baptized in the Catholic Church this year and confirmed Wednesday, and, “I am at peace because I know where I am going and look forward to seeing Mrs. Berry when I get there.”

West was convicted of capital murder in the 1997 killing of Berry, 33. Berry, the mother of two sons, was shot in the back of the head while lying on the floor behind the counter at Harold’s Chevron in Etowah County on March 28, 1997.

Prosecutors said she was killed execution-style to ensure there was no witness to the robbery. Court records state that $250 was taken from a cookie can that held the store’s money.

A jury convicted West of capital murder during a robbery and voted 10-2 to recommend a death sentence, and the judge accepted that recommendation.

West, in an interview, did not deny killing Margaret Berry. He said that at age 50, he struggles to understand what he did at 21. He and his girlfriend were desperate for cash and went to the store where he once worked to rob it.

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t regret it and wish that I could take that back,” West told AP by telephone last week. He said he wants Berry’s family to know he regrets what happened.

“I’m so very sorry for what I’ve taken away from you, and I hope and pray you forgive me,” West said of what he wants to tell Berry’s family.

West in recent weeks had exchanged letters with one of the victim’s sons. West expressed remorse, and Will Berry offered forgiveness.

Will Berry urged Alabama’s governor to commute West’s sentence to life in prison. He said taking another life will not help his family.

“I forgive him and so does my dad. We don’t want him to die,” Will Berry said of West. On Tuesday he helped deliver a petition to her office asking for commutation of his sentence.

He was 11 when his mother was killed, and he said prosecutors urged the family to support a death sentence. Now a father and grandfather, Will Berry said time and his faith have given him a different perspective. He said West was a troubled young man with a drug-fueled past who made a terrible decision.

“Vengeance isn’t for the state. It’s for the Lord,” Will Berry told The Associated Press.

Berry and West asked to meet ahead of the execution, but the Alabama Department of Corrections denied the request citing security regulations forbidding visits between victims and inmates.

Ivey said in a Sept. 11 letter to Berry that she intended to let the execution go forward. She wrote that she appreciates his belief, but she said Alabama law “imposes death as punishment for the most egregious forms of murder.”

On Thursday she told the corrections commissioner that she would not exercise her clemency powers and directed him to carry out the death sentence, according to a statement from her office.

“Almost 30 years ago, Margaret Parrish Berry went to work at the convenience store, but she would never get to return home. Geoffrey West went in with the intent to rob and kill, and he cowardly shot Ms. Berry in the back of the head,” Ivey said.

“Tonight, the lawfully imposed death sentence has been carried out, justice has been served, and I pray for healing for all,” the governor added.

Also in a statement Thursday, Will Berry expressed astonishment at the execution and offered condolences to West's loved ones.

“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,” Berry said. “We pray that he gains peace when he meets his maker.”

The execution method used to put West to death involved strapping a gas mask to his face and forcing him to breathe pure nitrogen gas, thus depriving the person of the oxygen needed to stay alive.

After state lawmakers authorized nitrogen gas as an execution method in 2018, the Alabama Department of Corrections gave death row prisoners a brief window to choose between that, lethal injection or the electric chair.

West was one several dozen who picked nitrogen then. However, at that time, the state had not yet developed procedures for using it and it was unclear when that would happen.

Alabama became the first state to carry out a nitrogen gas execution in 2024. Nationally, the method has now been used in seven executions: six times in Alabama and once in Louisiana.

Lethal injection remains Alabama’s primary method.