ATMORE Ala. — An Alabama man convicted of killing a woman during a 1997 gas station robbery was put to death Thursday after apologizing to the family and pleas from the victim’s son to spare his life.

Geoffrey Todd West, 50, was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m. at William C. Holman Correctional Facility, authorities said. The execution was carried out by nitrogen gas, a method Alabama began using last year. It was one of two executions scheduled on the night in the United States.

West was convicted of capital murder in the 1997 shooting death of Margaret Parrish Berry, 33. Berry, the mother of two sons, was shot in the back of the head while lying on the floor behind the counter at Harold’s Chevron in Etowah County on March 28, 1997.

Prosecutors said she was killed execution-style to ensure

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