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Feb. 24 (UPI) -- Alabama lifted its moratorium on executions on Friday after the completion of an investigation into a series of botched executions last year. Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said he has competed a "top-to-bottom" review of the death penalty in the state, which was ordered in November by Gov. Kay Ivey following failed execution attempts in November.
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Ivey had ordered a halt to executions during the review.
"Upon receiving word from Commissioner Hamm, Gov. Kay Ivey asked Attorney General Steve Marshall to ask the Supreme Court to issue an execution warrant for an eligible death row inmate whenever he deems appropriate," said the governor's communications director Gina Maiola.
Critics have called for an independent investigation, saying the recently completed review essentially allowed the Alabama Department of Corrections to conduct an investigation into the ethical implications of their own actions.
On Thursday, a group of Alabama lawyers signed an open letter to Ivey calling for an independent review of the death penalty in the state.
"It is of utmost importance to Alabamians that the state use the time afforded by Gov. Ivey's order to get this right. We believe that this can best be aided through the thorough review of an independent investigatory body," reads the letter.
The American Civil Liberties Union dismissed the state's review as unreliable.
"It is preposterous to believe that the agency responsible for botching multiple executions can responsibly and thoroughly investigate itself and suggest remedies to correct its own behavior," said Senior Counsel for the ACLU in Alabama, Alison Mollman in a statement released Thursday alongside the lawyers' open letter.
On Thursday, Florida resumed its executions when it gave a lethal injection to Donald Dillbeck. It was the state's first execution in more than three years and the 100th in the Sunshine State since capital punishment was reinstated in 1979.
