Trial A
Jefferson County jury convicted James of
capital murder in 1996 and voted to recommend the death penalty, which a judge imposed. The conviction was overturned when the Alabama court of criminal appeals ruled that a judge wrongly admitted some police reports into evidence. James was retried and again sentenced to death in 1999, when jurors rejected defense claims that he was under emotional duress at the time of the shooting. He converted to
Islam while on death row. James' defense was also based on the fact that Faith's family opposed the execution. It was reported that Faith's daughters, Toni Hall Melton and Terryln Hall, who were respectively 3 and 6 years old at the time of the murder, and her brother, Helvetius Hall, were interviewed by the media about the case. They said they had forgiven James, and asked that his death sentence be commuted to life without the possibility of parole. Hall's daughters had planned to attend the execution, hear James' final words hoping for an apology, and then leave. However, ADOC officials told the Hall family that it would be impossible for them to leave, because of prison protocols. James did not open his eyes or show any deliberate movements at any point during the procedure, according to reporting from the Associated Press. He did not speak when asked if he had any final words. Witnesses of the execution cannot confirm that James was conscious at the time of his execution. According to the Alabama Corrections Commissioner, John Hamm, James was not sedated. It was also reported that a female journalist who was witnessing the execution had been told that her skirt was too short for her to enter the witness room during the execution procedure. == Aftermath ==