Execution date set for man convicted in death of Sylacauga woman

William Ernest Kuensel

Attorneys for a man convicted in the 1987 shooting death of a Sylacauga convenience store clerk called the timing of the Alabama Supreme Court's decision, two days before Christmas, to set a spring execution date "sickening."  The court on Tuesday set March 19 for the execution of William Ernest Kuenzel on Alabama's Death Row inside the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. The order setting the execution date was approved in an 8-1 decision, with Justice Greg Shaw dissenting.

Kuenzel had served 27 years, one month and six days on Death Row as of Wednesday.  The Alabama Attorney General's Office this fall requested an execution date be set for Kuenzel and a group of other inmates after a new lethal injection cocktail was approved for use. Executions had been delayed in Alabama while officials looked for a new drug combination.

Kuenzel still has an appeal before the Alabama Court of Criminal appeals pending.

A long process is involved to set an execution date with rules generally requiring notices be sent at least 30 days and no more than 100 days prior to an execution date.

Kuenzel was convicted of capital murder in the 1987 shooting death of Sylacauga convenience store clerk Linda Offord. The judge sentenced him to death after a Talladega County jury unanimously recommended the death sentence.

Kuenzel, who has been on Alabama's Death Row at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore since his conviction in 1988, has maintained his innocence throughout his trial and appeals.