A man convicted of capital murder in the shooting deaths of three Birmingham police officers in 2004 is set to be executed in March.

Nathaniel Woods, 44, is set to die by lethal injection on March 5 at William C. Holman prison in Atmore. The Alabama Supreme Court released its order setting the date on Thursday afternoon.

Woods was convicted in December 2005 of capital murder for the June 17, 2004 shooting deaths of Birmingham police officers Carlos Owen, Harley A. Chisholm III, and Charles R. Bennett while they were serving a warrant at an apartment in Ensley.

He also was convicted of attempting to murder Officer Michael Collins.

It was the deadliest day in the Birmingham police department’s history.

The jury recommended by a vote of 10 to 2 that Woods be sentenced to death. The judge followed the jury’s recommendation and sent Woods to death row.

Woods’s co-defendant, Kerry M. Spencer, was also convicted of capital murder and was sentenced to death. He is awaiting an execution date. It was Spencer, not Woods, who shot the officers.

The Alabama Attorney General’s Office asked the state’s highest court to set a date for Woods’ execution on October 29.

Court records show on June 17, 2004, the four Birmingham police officers were in the process of arresting and taking into custody Woods at a west Birmingham apartment where he dealt drugs with Spencer.

After the officers arrived, and several had entered the home, Spencer opened fire. Owen, Chisholm, and Bennett were dead when help arrived, while Collins was suffering from gunshot wounds. “Each (of the three officers) had died from multiple gunshot wounds,” according to the state’s motion asking for an execution date.

“Responding officers found an SKS assault rifle in the grass outside, a handgun in the bathroom, and two long guns in a bedroom. The officers’ bulletproof vests had been pierced, typical of damage sustained by high-powered rifle fire,” the motion states.

“When Woods was located, he was sitting with other men on the porch of (a neighbor’s) house nearby, apparently ‘very relaxed.’ He gave his full name and was found to have two .22 caliber bullets in his pocket. Kerry Spencer was eventually pulled out of (the neighbor’s) attic," the motion states. A “doorman" at the drug house testified Woods and Spencer sold mostly crack cocaine to 100-150 customers per day, according to court records.

On December 5, Woods’ attorneys asked in a motion to the Alabama Supreme Court that the court “fully review Mr. Woods' constitutional claim that he was denied the effective representation of counsel guaranteed by the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.”

“Specifically, this Court should consider how trial counsel's performance during the penalty phase of Mr. Woods' capital trial was woefully deficient. But for counsel's errors, Mr. Woods almost certainly would not have been sentenced to death,” the motion from attorney J.D. Lloyd said.

The attorney stated in his motion that the court “should not set a date of execution until it has more fully examined trial counsel’s performance during the penalty phase of Mr. Woods’ trial.”

The execution date comes after years of appeals.

The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Woods’ convictions and sentence in 2007 after a remand for an amended sentencing order, and the Alabama Supreme Court denied Woods’ appeal in 2009. The United States Supreme Court denied to review the case on February 22, 2010.

Woods filed an appeal in Jefferson County circuit court in December, 2008.

The circuit court dismissed the petition in 2010, and the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the dismissal in April 2016. The Alabama Supreme Court again denied to review the case. Woods also filed a federal lawsuit in October 2016, but the district court dismissed the case in 2018. He asked the United States Supreme Court to review that claim, but they too denied to review the case on October 7, 2019.

See photos of the aftermath of the 2004 Birmingham police shootings.

This story is developing and this post will be updated.