MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The time Nathaniel Woods has left to live is quickly diminishing.

Woods is scheduled on Thursday to become the latest Alabama Department of Corrections inmate to be executed.

He can't do much from his cell on death row, where he remains 23 hours a day, except think about what may come to pass.

But his family has picked up where he's been limited, writing petitions, seeking legal help and having letters delivered to Gov. Kay Ivey who they hope will intervene before Woods is put to death by lethal injection.

The son of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. also released an open letter to Ivey, asking her to intervene in the case.

Standing at the doors of the Capitol Wednesday afternoon, his sister, Pamela Woods, pleaded for a reprieve.

"He's 100% innocent," she said. "Let him go, or give us time to have the courts review his case."

Woods was convicted of capital murder in the shooting deaths of three Birmingham police officers in June 2004. Woods was convicted, despite personally killing no one, as an accomplice to the actual shooter.

Prosecutors have not presented any evidence to show that Woods held or fired a gun during the incident.

Officers Carlos Owen and Harley Chisholm were killed when they entered a home with an outstanding warrant for Woods. The shooter, Kerry Spencer, was napping and awakened by the officers. A third officer, Charles Bennett, died outside the home after trying to radio for help. A fourth officer was wounded but survived.

At trial, prosecutors successfully argued Woods "conspired" with the shooter, Kerry Spencer, in killing the officers and was therefore equally culpable in their deaths. Spencer last month told the news outlet The Appeal that Woods was not involved and there "was no plan to kill the police."

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By all accounts, Woods did not have a gun at the time of the shooting. His sister asserted that he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"He was there to help someone, a woman who was pregnant and didn't have anywhere to go," she said. "That's the kind of person he was. He wanted to help. He just happened to be there when police showed up."

Woods said police told her brother they had a warrant for his arrest.

"I think they got mad at him when he insisted they didn't have a warrant for him," she said. "We still have never seen that warrant. Then the gunfire happened, and Nate thought it was the police who shot."

Woods' lawyers allege he received negligent legal advice at the time of his trial, when he rejected a plea deal after his trial counsel failed to explain the accomplice law.

According to court documents, Spencer admitted that he opened fire in a "knee-jerk reaction" when he saw one of the officers holding a gun. Spencer was also convicted and sentenced to death in the killings. His execution date has not yet been set.

Woods' family are not the only people calling on Ivey to enter a stay of execution.

Martin Luther King III released the letter on social media channels Tuesday, writing he had attempted to speak to Ivey privately but had been denied.

The son of famed Alabama football player Bart Starr wrote an op-ed appealing for action, while Starr's widow, Cherry Starr, also wrote Ivey.

More than 72,000 people had signed a petition on Change.org on Wednesday afternoon to halt the execution. A website, savenate.com, was set up to share the issues with Woods' case and give people an easy way to send a written note to Ivey in support of Woods. According to the website, over 23,000 messages have been forwarded.

A federal judge denied a stay request Tuesday morning after Woods' legal team argued in a hearing that the execution should be stayed to consider evidence that Alabama is "targeting" death row inmates who did not opt in to death by nitrogen hypoxia two years ago.

The Legislature in 2018 approved death by nitrogen, a form of execution proponents had lobbied as more humane but which is still hypothetical. Several states have adopted the method on paper, but none of those states have implemented the actual execution method.

Woods' father, Nathaniel Woods Sr., accompanied Pamela Woods to the steps of the Capitol on Wednesday. He stood nearby, with his head down, nodding occasionally in agreement. When asked if he wanted to share anything about his son, he shook his head no and declined.

On the website dedicated to saving Woods' life, there's a stream of family photos sliding across the bottom of the page. As the gallery progresses, Woods grows older. He goes from a graduating kindergartner dressed in an all white cap and gown to a bearded man dressed in the all white prison uniform.

"Governor Ivey, I wish you would just please look at the information, the transcripts, everything that happened in this trial and please just give him a chance to have a fair trial," Pamela Woods said. "Hear the evidence that proves that my brother would never do anything like this. He is a very loving, caring, caring person and has a very meek and mild personality and he's the type of person who would never even think of doing anything like that."

Ivey's office has not returned a request for comment.

Follow Kirsten Fiscus on Twitter: @KDFiscus