DOJ: Alabama can have custody of pipe bomber for execution

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) – Attorney General Jeff Sessions says the U.S. will give Alabama full custody of a convicted package bomber who killed a federal judge so the state can execute him on Thursday.

In a Monday court filing, the Justice Department said it would waive its right to custody of Walter Leroy Moody, Jr. The filing came after Moody argued he should be in federal custody because he was sentenced to multiple life sentences in federal prison.

Moody is scheduled to be executed Thursday for the bombing death of U.S. Circuit Judge Robert Vance in 1989.

The judge died when he opened a package bomb that Moody sent to his home.

Moody is the oldest inmate on Alabama’s death row at 83.

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