Matthew Reeves

Personal life Reeves was born on December 13, 1977. He had intellectual disabilities, with an IQ in the 60s. Both accomplices pointed the finger at Reeves and claimed he had been the shooter.

Legal proceedings Reeves was sentenced to death on July 20, 1998. Reeves' brother and co-defendant, Julius Reeves, was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

Reeves' lawyers argued that his trial lawyers provided ineffective assistance of counsel and "should have done more to try to show he is intellectually disabled." On July 2, 2021, the United States Supreme Court overturned the Eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that had vacated Reeves' death sentence. The court decided in a 6–3 opinion, with the conservative majority reversing the circuit court. The Supreme Court stated that the Alabama state court had "correctly rejected claims that Matthew Reeves had ineffective counsel at trial because they did not hire a neuropsychologist to present evidence he is intellectually disabled."

On January 7, 2022, his execution was stayed on the grounds of a lawsuit. He sued the state, saying that the state did not accommodate his disability when it gave him a form asking him to choose whether he wanted to die by hypoxia or another method. The state appealed the stay of execution. On January 26, 2022, a federal appeals court upheld the lower court ruling that the execution of Reeves could not proceed. Following the ruling, the state attorney general's office announced it would appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of the United States. The appeal was successful and the Supreme Court voted 5–4 that the execution could proceed.

Execution Reeves was executed by lethal injection on January 27, 2022, at the age of 44. He was pronounced dead at 9:24 p.m. and had no last words or meal.