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Alabama inmate who killed police officer defiant before execution

By Sara Shayanian
Convicted killer Torrey Twayne McNabb was executed Thursday for the death of a police officer in 1997. Photo courtesy Alabama Department of Corrections
Convicted killer Torrey Twayne McNabb was executed Thursday for the death of a police officer in 1997. Photo courtesy Alabama Department of Corrections

Oct. 20 (UPI) -- The state of Alabama on Thursday night executed convicted killer Torrey Twayne McNabb, after a flurry of last-minute appeals failed.

McNabb's attorney's had filed appeals throughout Thursday seeking a stay, but the inmate died by lethal injection at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore.

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McNabb refused to eat and expressed defiance before his execution, making obscene gestures toward the witness gallery.

His last words: "Mom, sis, look at my eyes. I've got no tears in my eyes. I'm unafraid. ... to the state of Alabama, I hate you [expletive]. I hate you."

McNabb shot police Cpl. Anderson Gordon in 1997 after an auto accident. The officer was shot four times. At McNabb's trial in 1999, he apologized to Gordon's family -- and was convicted by a jury.

Thursday night, McNabb's family and attorneys were concerned that he wasn't fully unconscious -- saying he'd moved his arm 20 minutes into the protocol.

Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn said officials followed proper procedures.

"I'm confident he was more than unconscious at that point," Dunn said. "Involuntary movement is not uncommon. That's how I would characterize it."

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Staff conducted two consciousness tests on McNabb and he was pronounced dead after minutes.

"Over 20 years ago, we lost a companion, a father, a brother, and a friend who only wanted to make a difference in his community," Gordon's family said in a statement. "'Brother,' as he was affectionately called, worked to make a difference in his community until his life was taken."

"I absolutely believe he was remorseful," Rhonda Brownstein, legal director of the Southern Poverty Law Center and part of McNabb's 1999 defense, said.

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