Alabama executes Michael Shannon Taylor for the 1991 murder of a couple in Gadsden

The state of Alabama executed Michael Shannon Taylor, 54, Thursday for the 1991 murders of Ivan and Lucille Moore in Gadsden.

Taylor did not make a final statement.

Taylor’s execution was the third in Alabama this year.  Jeremy Tremaine Williams was executed in August and Jeffery Lee in September, both by lethal injection.

Gov. Kay Ivey commuted the death sentences of Charles “Sonny” Burton in March and Toforest Johnson in October.

Alabama executed five people in 2025, tied with South Carolina and Texas for the second highest total nationwide. Florida executed 19 people that year.

“35 years ago yesterday, Ivan and Lucille Moore kindly opened their home to Michael Taylor. Mr. Taylor repaid the Moores by beating them to death with a metal bar, all to rob them for money to buy clothing and jewelry,” Ivey said in a statement shortly after the execution. “His actions were reprehensible and despite his attempts to evade the consequences, he is facing the Good Lord for final judgement tonight.”

Media witnesses reported no complications with the execution, conducted via lethal injection. Initially Taylor’s eyes were open and looked in various directions. He spoke to his spiritual advisor who appeared to pray and Taylor appeared to say “thank you” to the spiritual advisor and then to his attorney who was seated in the witness room.

The process began at 5:51 p.m. He smiled at his spiritual advisor who appeared to be praying. At 5:53 p.m., Taylor’s eyes rolled back, his breathing became labored and then his eyes closed.

Taylor’s feet moved at 5:56 p.m. and that was the final time his body moved.

The time of death was 6:10 p.m. according to the news release sent by the Governor’s Office.

The family of Ivan and Lucille Moore said in a statement that they thank the Alabama Attorney General’s Office and others who “brought the case to an end.”

“Still, it is very hard for us to understand why it took 35 years,” the family said in the statement. “We know that a person has a right to appeal, but there should come a time when the jury’s decision is final. For all these years, our family has had to live with the waiting, the delays, and the uncertainty.”

Family members also said they have not forgotten the Moores.

“Waiting 35 years for justice has been painful, and no victim’s family should have to wait that long,” the family said.

According to court documents, Taylor received a ride from the Moores while absent without a leave from the U.S. Navy. He asked to use the telephone in their home, and beat them to death during the robbery.

Taylor filed a request for a stay of execution with the Alabama Supreme Court and another appeal with the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals Tuesday, arguing that because he opted into nitrogen gas executions under a 2018 law, the state cannot execute him by lethal injection.

Three judges at the 11th Circuit ruled that the nitrogen gas protocol Alabama planned to use violated Lee’s Eighth Amendment constitutional rights. A federal court then issued a permanent injunction to prevent Alabama from carrying out the execution by nitrogen gas.

After the protocol was blocked, Alabama moved to execute Lee by lethal injection.

Lee also argued that the 2018 law effectively banned the state from using lethal injection when an inmate chose nitrogen gas. U.S. District Court Judge Emily Marks refused to extend the permanent injunction to lethal injection because she said the situation had changed.

The Alabama Supreme Court denied Taylor’s motion for a stay of execution Wednesday evening.

“The man we knew was not the nineteen-year-old who committed this crime in 1991,” said the Federal Defenders for the Middle District of Alabama, which has represented him since 2017. “He was bright and funny, a lover of trivia and sports statistics, a fan of Notre Dame and the Pittsburgh Steelers, and a man who, after years of struggle, found a deep and genuine faith.”