For Immediate Release:
September 25, 2025
For press inquiries only, contact:
Amanda Priest (334) 322-5694
William Califf (334) 604-3230
(Montgomery, Ala) – Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall issued the following statement tonight after the execution of Geoffrey Todd West by nitrogen hypoxia at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama:
“While working an honest job at a convenience store, Margaret Berry was executed in cold blood for $250. There is no doubt or dispute over the facts of this case, but thanks to legal gamesmanship, justice has been delayed for 26 years. The jury voted that the appropriate sentence was death.
Margaret did not have to senselessly die. As a country, we must stand firmly in our beliefs between right and wrong, justice and forgiveness. Alabama is steadfast in our commitment to holding the guilty accountable because that is what honors the dignity of every victim. Justice is how we restore peace to the communities they leave behind.”
Attorney General Marshall cleared the execution to commence at 6:00 p.m.
Geoffrey Todd West’s time of death was 6:22 p.m.
Legal Summary: State of Alabama v. Geoffrey Todd West
On March 27, 1997, Geoffrey Todd West and his girlfriend, Amy Pearce, drove to Harold’s Chevron, a convenience store where he had previously been employed. It is the same store location that West had expressed his intention to rob and to ‘leave no witnesses.’
Upon entering the Chevron store, West—armed with a .45 caliber handgun—held the attendant, Margaret Berry, at gunpoint. He took $250.00 from a cookie can where the store kept cash. Berry was then shot in the back of the head while lying face-down on the floor behind the counter.
West was convicted of capital murder on June 1, 1999. In the penalty phase, the jury recommended 10-2 that West be sentenced to death, and the trial court accepted that recommendation and imposed the death penalty.
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