The governor of Alabama, Kay Ivey was rushed away from a press conference on Thursday after being confronted by the sister of Nathaniel Woods.

Mr Woods was controversially executed by the state last week after being convicted of the killing of three police officers in 2004.

His sister, Pamela Woods confronted Ms Ivey as she conducted her press conference at a 2020 census kickoff event.

“You killed my brother.” Ms Woods said calmly. “He’s an innocent man and you killed him,” she added as Ms Ivey turned and walked away.

Ms Ivey ended her press conference and moved with her staff away from reporters, prompting Ms Woods and other protestors to shout ”Murderer” at the governor.​

Mr Wood's co-defendant Kerry Spencer claimed he was not involved in the shooting and figures such as Kim Kardashian-West and Martin Luther III tweeted their support for him.

In a letter from death row where he is also held, Mr Spencer wrote that Mr Woods is “100% innocent” and asked for the execution to be stopped.

Before last week’s trial, Ms Woods spoke emotionally to AL.com of the pain that she and her family have gone through trying to stop her brother's execution.

“We really just want people to see that he really is innocent, that he didn’t have anything to do with the murders of those officers,” she said. “We do feel really bad for what happened that day.”

“We don’t wish that on anyone, for their family to have to deal with that. It was very unfortunate that the shooter did what he did. But the main point is is that Nathaniel had no parts in those actions of another man, Kerry Spencer.” Said Ms Woods.

33 states have either abolished or have not used the death penalty in the last 10 years.