News Staff Report
Alabama death row inmate Christopher Lee Price, sentenced to death in 1993 for the murder of a Fayette County preacher and businessman who was killed two years earlier, is scheduled to finally pay for his crime.
According to an announcement by Alabama Department of Corrections officials, Price is scheduled to die at 6 p.m. this Thursday, April 11, at William C. Holman Correctional Facility near Atmore.
Price has reportedly requested that he be executed in Alabama’s electric chair, commonly known as “Yellow Mama,” instead of by lethal injection. The chair has reportedly remained at Holman, in a storeroom above the death chamber, since its use was replaced in 2002 by drug-induced executions.
Those convicted of capital crimes prior to 2003 have the option of being put to death by electrocution or injection, while those convicted later must accept execution by injection.
Court documents show that a jury found Price guilty of using a sword to mortally wound Bill Lynn, a minister who also owned and operated an auto parts store in the Bazemore community.
Price and at least two accomplices broke into Lynn’s home on Dec. 22, 1991 and robbed him and his wife, who was injured but lived to testify against the robber-assailants.
Lynn’s wife was serously injured in the robbery but survived and was able to testify against Price.
Price was arrested in Chattanooga, Tenn., just a few days later and reportedly admitted his role in the robbery but blamed the murder on one of his accomplices.
Price and his attorneys have asked that the execution be halted, and the conviction overturned. They argue that Price’s confession should not have been used against him because he wasn’t properly Mirandized.