Summary
Michael Shannon Taylor, 54, was sentenced to death in Alabama for the 1991 murders of Ivan and Lucille Moore at their home in Gadsden. He was 19 at the time of the crime.
Governor Kay Ivey has set a 30-hour execution window from 12:00 am on Thursday 5 November 2026 to 6:00 am on Friday 6 November. The state plans to use lethal injection, after first obtaining the warrant for an execution by nitrogen hypoxia. His lawyers dispute the change of method.
The crime
On 4 November 1991, Taylor, then 19 and absent without leave from the US Navy, asked Ivan and Lucille Moore, a couple he knew, for a ride home in Gadsden, Alabama. Once inside their home, he asked to use their telephone, and Ivan Moore offered him a glass of water.
According to court records, Taylor fetched a metal bar from a bag he had left outside and attacked Ivan Moore. Lucille Moore came into the room and was also attacked. Both were beaten to death.
Taylor was convicted of capital murder, including murder committed during a robbery, and sentenced to death.
Legal history
- 4 November 1991Ivan and Lucille Moore killed at their home in Gadsden
- Early 1990sConvicted of capital murder and sentenced to death
- Direct appealAlabama Supreme Court finds no reversible error and upholds the convictions and death sentence
- 4 June 2026Alabama Supreme Court authorises his execution, then planned by nitrogen hypoxia, and asks the governor to set a time frame
- June 2026A federal court rules Alabama's nitrogen hypoxia protocol unconstitutional in another case; on 11 June the US Supreme Court refuses to lift that ruling. Taylor's lawyers ask the Alabama Supreme Court to recall his warrant
- June 2026Alabama moves to carry out executions by lethal injection instead
- 31 August 2026Governor Kay Ivey sets a 30-hour execution window from 12:00 am on 5 November to 6:00 am on 6 November 2026, by lethal injection
Current status
The execution window opens at 12:00 am Central time on Thursday 5 November 2026 and closes at 6:00 am on Friday 6 November. If carried out, it would be Alabama's third execution of 2026.
Governor Kay Ivey has said she has no current plans to grant clemency, but retains the power to grant a reprieve or commutation at any time before the execution.
Campaigners, including Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty, are asking the governor to commute his sentence, pointing to his age of 19 at the time of the crime and saying he has changed during more than three decades on death row. His supporters also say he never chose lethal injection, and that the Alabama Supreme Court declined, without explanation, to rule on whether the change of method is lawful.
Sources
- Alabama Reflector: Governor Ivey schedules November execution
- WSFA: execution set for Gadsden man convicted in 1991 double murder
- ABC 33/40: Governor sets 30-hour execution window
- Wiregrass Daily News: execution window and the governor's letter
- Alabama Political Reporter: execution date set; clemency campaign
- WBHM / AP: Alabama seeks lethal injection after nitrogen ruling
- Action Network: clemency petition (advocacy group)