Execution № 07Alabama

Geoffrey Todd West

Forgiveness from a victim's son — and 'the least movement,' the state said.

Executed: September 25, 2025
Facility: William C. Holman Correctional Facility, Atmore
Age at death: 49
Years on death row: 27
Crime year: 1997
Victim(s): Margaret Parrish Berry
Duration: ~18 minutes gas-flow to pronounced death

Biography

Convicted for the 1997 shooting death of Margaret Parrish Berry, a convenience-store clerk killed during a robbery in Attalla, Alabama. On death row 27 years.

The Crime

1997 gas-station robbery-murder of Margaret Berry in Attalla, Alabama.

Legal History

Will Berry, one of the victim's sons, publicly forgave West, joined death-penalty opponents at the Alabama Capitol, delivered a petition to Governor Kay Ivey pleading for West's life, and exchanged letters with the man who killed his mother. Ivey did not intervene.

In the Chamber

Commissioner John Q. Hamm claimed West's execution showed 'the least movement that we've seen' among all nitrogen executions. Reporters on scene described visible physical response nonetheless — Hamm's claim would collapse under the Boyd account a month later.

The Full Record — Extended Narrative

Geoffrey West's execution was defined not by what happened inside the chamber but by what happened outside it. Will Berry, one of the sons of the woman West had shot to death in a 1997 convenience-store robbery, publicly forgave him. Berry stood at the Alabama Capitol alongside death-penalty opponents. He wrote letters to the man who killed his mother. On the morning of the execution he personally delivered a clemency petition to the office of Governor Kay Ivey. Ivey did not intervene.

Inside the chamber on September 25, 2025, Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Q. Hamm characterized the seventh nitrogen execution as showing 'the least movement that we've seen.' Media witnesses on scene described visible physical response nonetheless — shaking, gasping, and periodic movement over several minutes. Hamm's 'least movement' claim would be difficult to sustain a month later, when Anthony Boyd's execution set the new upper bound.

West's case is preserved in the record for a specific reason: it is the case in which a victim's family member walked to the governor's door with a plea for mercy, and the state chose retribution anyway.

Eyewitness Accounts

“He killed my mother. I forgave him. The state killed him anyway. Nothing about this brings her back. Nothing about this makes us safer.”

— Will Berry · Son of Margaret Berry (West's victim) · Public statements, Alabama Capitol rally and personal correspondence

“West's body shifted and his mouth moved against the mask for several minutes. It was not what the commissioner described.”

— Ivana Hrynkiw · Media witness, AL.com · AL.com · September 25, 2025

Significance

Tested whether the state's narrative of retribution could survive a victim's family publicly pleading for mercy. It could not — and the state proceeded anyway.

Video Coverage

Every broadcast segment on this execution. Full master list in the Resource Center.

Execution CoverageSeptember 25, 2025· WBRC (NBC Birmingham)

Alabama executes Geoffrey Todd West

Open source ↗

Sources & Further Reading

Primary court documents, contemporaneous news coverage, and analysis from major outlets. Links open live searches at each outlet so scholars can pull the full run of reporting, not a single article.