USA - Alabama. Judge Brian Howell sentenced Nicholas Smith, 24, Black, to death

Circuit Judge Brian Howell sentenced Nicholas Smith, 24, Black, to death by lethal injection for the kidnapping and killing of Kevin Thompson, 29, on April 20, 2011. In July, a jury recommended that Smith be put to death for his involvement in the murder. Prosecutors said that Smith, Tyrone Thompson and Jovon Gaston kidnapped the 3rd-grade teacher from his apartment, took him to several ATMs, robbed him of $400 at gunpoint and stabbed him to death with a steak knife.