Gray Williams Popular Books

Gray Williams Biography & Facts

The execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith (July 4, 1965 – January 25, 2024) took place in the U.S. state of Alabama by means of nitrogen hypoxia. It was the first execution in the world to use this particular method.Smith was convicted of the March 18, 1988, murder-for-hire of Elizabeth Sennett in Colbert County, Alabama. Charles Sennett Sr., Elizabeth's husband, recruited Billy Gray Williams to murder his wife. Williams in turn recruited Smith and John Forrest Parker to assist in the murder. Smith and Parker carried out the murder and stabbed Elizabeth Sennett to death at her home in Colbert County. A week after Elizabeth's murder, Charles Sennett Sr. killed himself when he learned he was a suspect in the murder. Billy Gray Williams was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole and died in prison in November 2020. Smith and John Forrest Parker were both sentenced to death. Parker was executed via lethal injection in June 2010.In November 2022, Smith was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection, but the execution was stayed after the execution team was unable to connect the intravenous lines to Smith in the time available before the expiration of the death warrant issued by the Alabama Supreme Court. As part of a settlement between the state and Smith, the state agreed not to pursue Smith's execution by lethal injection (the default primary method of execution in Alabama) and instead utilize a secondary novel method of execution, nitrogen hypoxia. After losing his final appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, Smith was ultimately executed by nitrogen hypoxia on January 25, 2024, becoming the first person to be executed by that method. Crime and investigation Reverend Charles Sennett Sr. hired Billy Gray Williams, one of his tenants, to murder his wife, 45-year-old Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett. To carry out the plan, Williams hired Kenneth Smith and John Forrest Parker to assist him. Sennett was going to pay each of the men $1,000 for the murder.On March 18, 1988, Elizabeth Sennett was found with fatal injuries in her home in Colbert County, Alabama. Smith and Parker arrived at the Sennett's home and told Elizabeth that Charles had allowed them to survey the grounds for hunting purposes. Elizabeth called Charles who told her to let the two men in. Charles also provided the men with funds to buy a firearm to kill Elizabeth. However, Smith and Parker opted to spend the money on drugs. Instead of a firearm, they used a six-inch survival knife and various items within the home to carry out the act of murder against her. While the men were walking around the grounds, Elizabeth stayed inside. The two men then knocked on the door and asked to use the bathroom, which Elizabeth agreed to. While Parker was in the bathroom, Smith crept up on Elizabeth and decided to beat her. As Elizabeth struggled for her life; a "fireplace set, a walking cane, and a piece of galvanized pipe" were used to beat her. Parker also later joined Smith in beating her. After Elizabeth was beaten, she was then stabbed eight times with the survival knife, which caused her death.Sheriff Ronnie May was one of the first people to arrive on the scene and he was unable to find a pulse for Elizabeth; however, when emergency medical technicians arrived, they found a pulse. May stated that Sennett "almost fell" when he was told that Elizabeth had a pulse. May then rode with Elizabeth in the ambulance and she was declared dead by doctors at the hospital. May said that Sennett "fought it and she fought hard."Investigators thought that the home looked staged to make it appear that there had been a home invasion; the men took a videocassette recorder and a stereo. May remembered meeting Charles Sennett a few weeks prior to the incident when they were investigating another murder and had to ask Sennett to leave several times. Investigators received a call from Crime Stoppers that gave them the suspects' names. On March 25, investigators brought Sennett in for questioning, but he denied involvement. When Sennett went to leave, someone asked if Sennett knew Kenneth Smith and Sennett turned red. Sennett left the interview and went to his church, where he met with his sons and their families and admitted to having an affair and having their mother killed. Sennett then went to the parking lot, got in his truck, and fatally shot himself.Investigators received a search warrant to search Smith's home and found a video recorder from the Sennetts' home. Smith and Parker provided information to the police about Elizabeth's death. Sentencing and appeals Smith was tried and convicted in Jefferson County on a change of venue from Colbert County to reduce pre-trial publicity. The jury in Smith's first trial found Smith guilty of the murder of Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett and recommended to the trial judge that he be executed by a vote of 10–2. For inmates convicted before 2017, the jury issued a sentencing recommendation; if fewer than 10 jurors vote for a death sentence then that constitutes a life sentence. The judge, however, is not bound by the jury's recommendation but gives it weight before making the ultimate sentencing decision. Smith was sentenced to death in 1989; however, the conviction and sentence were vacated on appeal in 1992. In Smith's second trial, the jury in Smith's case recommended a life sentence by a 11–1 vote; the judge overruled their recommendation and sentenced him to death in 1996.Like Smith, Parker was also sentenced to death, while Williams was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Parker was executed on June 10, 2010, via lethal injection. Williams died in prison in November 2020 from an undisclosed illness. By November 2022, Smith exhausted all avenues of appeal regarding the second conviction and sentence. First death warrant and failed execution attempt Smith was initially scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on November 17, 2022.Despite the fact that Smith had a motion to stay his execution pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, at 7:45 p.m. on November 17, 2022, a lawyer for the Alabama Department of Corrections emailed Smith's lawyers to let them know they were preparing him for execution. Smith spoke with his wife, and at 7:57 p.m. prison guards ended his phone call with her. Smith was handcuffed and shackled and taken to the execution chamber. Two minutes later, at 7:59 p.m. the Eleventh Circuit issued a stay of execution, which Smith's lawyers immediately provided to the Alabama Department of Corrections.The Department of Corrections replied that they had received notice of the stay, but did not inform Smith or allow him to speak with his lawyers, instead keeping him strapped to a gurney in the execution chamber. At 10:00 p.m. the execution team entered and attempted to place an IV into Smith's arm. At approximately 10:20 p.m. the United States Supreme Court lifted the Eleventh Circuit's stay of execution. Smith to.... Discover the Gray Williams popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Gray Williams books.

Best Seller Gray Williams Books of 2024

  • Nobody synopsis, comments

    Nobody

    Marc Lamont Hill

    Named a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus ReviewsA New York Times Editor’s ChoiceNautilus Award Winner“A worthy and necessary addition to the contemporary canon of civil rights liter...

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    Brazen Ecstasy

    Janelle Taylor

    Fate cannot tear apart what love has bound in this breathtaking historical romance from the New York Times–bestselling author of Defiant Ecstasy.Janelle Taylor creates unforgettabl...

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    Back Roads

    Heather Ewart

    A road trip around Australia, discovering towns and communities outside the mainstream and the colourful inhabitants whose grit and humour will uplift and inspire you.Discover the...

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    Melmoth the Wanderer

    Charles Maturin & Victor Sage

    Created by an Irish clergyman, Melmoth is one of the most fiendish characters in literature. In a satanic bargain, Melmoth exchanges his soul for immortality. The story of his tort...

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    Statesmanship

    Various Authors

    No British periodical or weekly magazine has a richer and more distinguished archive than The New Statesman, which has long been at the centre of British political and cultural lif...

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    A Strange Scottish Shore

    Juliana Gray

    The acclaimed author of A Most Extraordinary Pursuit brings a dazzling voice and extraordinary plot twists to this captivating Scottish adventure...  Scotland, 1906. A mysteri...

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    The Secrets of Angel Healing

    Sabi Hilmi

    Unveil the secrets of angelic guidance and turn your life aroundAre you feeling unfulfilled? Are you often ill and run down? Do you suffer from lack of confidence? Have you had a s...

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    Shadowplay

    Portia Da Costa

    Photographer Christabel is drawn to psychic phenomena and dark liasons. When she is persuaded by her husband to take a holiday at a mysterious mansion house in the country, she for...

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    The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays

    Oscar Wilde & Richard Cave

    Lady Windermere's Fan/Salomé/A Woman of No Importance/An Ideal Husband/A Florentine Tragedy/The Importance of Being Earnest'To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to l...

  • Lois the Witch synopsis, comments

    Lois the Witch

    Elizabeth Gaskell

    Fear of Satan becomes murder in the name of God.Newly orphaned, the Godfearing and heartbroken Lois is sent across the Atlantic to live with her uncle’s family in Salem, but on her...

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    Back Roads 3

    Heather Ewart

    Heather's favourite road trips around Australia, revealing towns and communities outside the mainstream and the colourful inhabitants whose grit and humour will uplift and inspire...

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    The Flying Vet

    Ameliah Scott

    My journey to the skies and the people and animals of the Australian outback'Scott is devoted to bringing veterinarian services to the vast outback plains she calls home with her h...

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    Talking with Angels of Love

    Amanda Hart

    There was once a time in Amanda Hart's life when she did not know how to be secure in her own worth, was a stranger to selflove and found herself constantly trapped in a cycle of t...

  • Wicked Words 9 synopsis, comments

    Wicked Words 9

    Various Artists

    Wicked Words a collection of saucy and compelling short storiesWicked Words 9 is the latest in our everpopular series of Black Lace short story collections.Fun, filthy and sizzlin...