Execution date set for Tommy Arthur

For the second time in 25 years, an execution date has been set for Tommy Arthur.

On Friday morning, the Alabama Supreme Court set Sept. 27 as the execution date for the 65-year-old Arthur, who was convicted of the murder-for-hire killing of his girlfriend's husband in Muscle Shoals.

In April, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review an appeal for Arthur, setting the stage for his execution.

"A lot of people will not believe it until it happens,'' said former Colbert County District Attorney James A. "Jap'' Patton, who prosecuted Arthur for what turned out to be the first of three times he would be convicted in the case.

This is Arthur's second execution date. He was originally scheduled to die in April 2001, but received a delay from a federal judge so he could pursue another appeal.

After that appeal was denied, Alabama Attorney General Troy King requested the state Supreme Court set a new execution date.

Arthur was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death for shooting Troy Wicker, of Muscle Shoals, through the right eye as he slept. The victim's wife, Judy Wicker, was involved with Arthur and testified she paid him $10,000 to kill her husband in 1981.

Arthur was convicted and sentenced to death the first time on Feb. 19, 1983. That decision was overturned. In fact, two of his convictions were overturned.

On Dec. 5, 1991, Arthur, for the third time, was found guilty and sentenced to death.

"We'll see what happens,'' Patton said after hearing of the new execution date. "We've been there before (with a date set).

"He's had several chances, a lot of chances, and he's still around, but thankfully still locked up.''

Arthur came within seven hours of execution in April 2001, when a stay was granted on his claim that he did not have an attorney to handle his appeals. The courts later refused his bid for a new hearing.

Judy Wicker was found guilty as an accomplice and was released after serving 10 years of a life sentence.

At the time of the killing, Arthur was in a prison work-release center in Decatur, serving a sentence for second-degree murder for killing his sister-in-law in Marion County.

Arthur has continued to maintain his innocence, and has filed two actions in federal court seeking a stay of his execution and reversal of his case, according to Clay Crenshaw, director of the

attorney general's capital litigation section.

Crenshaw said Arthur seeks DNA testing and a separate action alleging that lethal injection is unconstitutional because it's cruel and unusual punishment.

"Every inmate comes with filing a lethal injection lawsuit," Crenshaw said. "They try to delay their executions.''

He said Arthur can continue to appeal his execution in federal courts up until the last minute.

There are 199 inmates on death row in Alabama, according to the Alabama Department of Corrections. Nine have been on death row longer than Arthur, with the longest being moved there on May 31, 1978.

The last execution in Alabama was on Oct. 26, 2005, according to the department.

Tom Smith can be reached at 740-5757 or tom.smith@timesdaily.com.

Montgomery Bureau Chief Dana Beyerle contributed to this report.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.