Alabama Executes Geoffrey Todd West for 1997 Murder

The Associated Press reported that Alabama executed Geoffrey Todd West, 50, on Thursday, September 25, 2025, for the 1997 murder of a convenience store clerk during a robbery that netted $250. West was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m. at William C. Holman Correctional Facility after being executed by nitrogen gas, a method Alabama began using in 2024. The victim, 33-year-old Margaret Parrish Berry, was shot in the back of the head at a Chevron station in Etowah County.

washingtonpost.com reported, A jury had recommended the death sentence with a 10-2 vote. In a final statement issued by his attorney, West apologized for the crime, stating he was "humbled by the forgiveness" extended by the victim's son, Will Berry. The victim's son had publicly forgiven West and asked Governor Kay Ivey to commute the sentence to life in prison, a plea the governor denied, stating her duty to uphold state law. The execution was the seventh carried out using nitrogen gas in the United States.