The son of a woman murdered nearly 25 years ago is asking that her killer be spared from execution for a heartwrenching reason.
Will Berry, whose mother, Margaret Berry, was shot and killed during a robbery at Harold’s Chevron in Etowah County on March 28, 1997, has urged Alabama officials to halt the scheduled execution of Geoffrey Todd West.
West, who was 21 at the time of the murder, was convicted of capital murder in the case after a jury voted 10-2 to recommend death.
The now-51-year-old is set to be executed by nitrogen gas at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility on Thursday, September 25.
A son’s plea
Will was 11 years old when his mother was killed. He revealed that he has written to Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, asking her to stop the execution, and has also exchanged letters with West and forgiven him.
"I forgive this guy, and I don’t want him to die,” Berry told AP in a phone interview. “I don’t want the state to take revenge in my name or my family’s name for my mother."
In an opinion piece for the Montgomery Advertiser, Will explained his reasoning further.
"That won’t bring my mother back; it will only add to the pain I have lived with since the night she was shot," he wrote. "I believe that in seeking to execute Mr. West, the state of Alabama is playing God. I don’t want anyone to exact revenge in my name, nor in my mother’s."
Will disclosed that Gov. Ivey replied to his letter, saying that while she understood his situation, Alabama law “imposes a death sentence for the most egregious form of murder,” and she was obligated to enforce it.
The crime, trial, and calls for life in prison
Prosecutors say Margaret, then 33 and a mother of two, was shot while lying on the floor behind the counter at the gas station, The Independent reported.
Court records say the murder was carried out to ensure there would be no witnesses left behind, and roughly $250 was taken from a cookie can that held the store’s money.
The death row inmate's girlfriend later testified against him in exchange for a 35-year sentence for her role in the robbery.
Etowah County Circuit Judge William Cardwell accepted the jury’s recommendation and sentenced West to death, saying at the 1999 sentencing he found it difficult to order the execution of a young man but that the killing was "intentional, carried out execution-style”.
A spokesperson for Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office told the outlet that the inmate had “been on death row for twenty-six years, and his sentence is due.”
Will has said he thinks life in prison without parole would be a just sentence for West, and that there may be “an ending to this story where Mr. West and I find comfort in each other and in the healing power of forgiveness.”
Remorse from the condemned
West himself has expressed remorse. In a phone interview, he said he does not deny killing Margaret and struggles to understand his younger self’s actions.
“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t regret it and wish that I could take that back,” West told the outlet, adding, “I wish I had the opportunity just to swap places and let it be me and not her," cited by PEOPLE.
He also said: “I’m so very sorry for the hurt that I’ve caused you all. I’m so very sorry for what I’ve taken away from you, and I hope and pray you forgive me.”
He and West had asked to be allowed to meet ahead of the execution, but the state denied the request for security reasons.
Execution method
West is scheduled to die by nitrogen gas, a method Alabama lawmakers authorized in 2018.
Nitrogen is an inert gas that makes up about 78% of the air we breathe and is harmless when mixed with adequate oxygen.
The process involves strapping a gas mask to the face and forcing the inmate to breathe pure nitrogen, depriving the person of oxygen.