She changed into the bizarre outfit but then officials from the conservative southern state found fault with something else - her shoes were "too revealing".
She then swapped the open-toed heels for tennis shoes she had in her car.
"This was an uncomfortable situation, and I felt embarrassed to have my body and my clothes questioned in front of a room of people I mostly had never met," she wrote.
"I sat down, tried to stop blushing, and did my work. As women often have to do."
WRBL news reported that officials said the policy is not new, adding that no reporter present could recall the policy being enforced at an execution.
After news of the decision broke online many were critical of the focus on the reporter's clothing.
"It's always about power and control and don't let anyone tell you otherwise," a fellow US journalist wrote.
"'Her skirt is too short to witness the execution' encapsulates just how brain-damaged half the country is," another tweeted.
Another shared the state's own rules, which clearly state that skirts must reach the knee.
He received a lethal injection at a south Alabama prison on Thursday night (US time) after the US Supreme Court denied his request for a stay. Officials said he was pronounced dead at 9.27pm after the start of execution was delayed by nearly three hours.
James, 50, was convicted and sentenced to death in the 1994 shooting death of Faith Hall, 26, in Birmingham. Hall's daughters have said they would rather James serve life in prison, but Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said Wednesday that she planned to let the execution proceed.
Prosecutors said James briefly dated Hall and he became obsessed after she rejected him, stalking and harassing her for months before killing her. On August 15, 1994, after Hall had been out shopping with a friend, James forced his way inside the friend's apartment, pulled a gun from his waistband and shot Hall three times, according to court documents.
Hall's two daughters, who were 3 and 6 when their mother was killed, said they wanted James to serve life in prison instead of being executed. The family members did not attend the execution.
Joe Nathan James jnr. Photo / Alabama Department of Corrections via AP
"Today is a tragic day for our family. We are having to relive the hurt that this caused us many years ago," the statement issued through state Rep. Juandalynn Givan's office read. Givan was a friend of Hall's.
"We hoped the state wouldn't take a life simply because a life was taken and we have forgiven Mr Joe Nathan James jnr for his atrocities toward our family ... We pray that God allows us to find healing after today and that one day our criminal justice system will listen to the cries of families like ours even if it goes against what the state wishes," the family's statement read.
Ivey said Thursday that she always deeply considers the feelings of the victim's family and loved ones, but "must always fulfil our responsibility to the law, to public safety and to justice."
"Faith Hall, the victim of repetitive harassment, serious threats and ultimately, cold-blooded murder, was taken from this earth far too soon at the hands of Joe Nathan James, jnr. Now, after two convictions, a unanimous jury decision and nearly three decades on death row, Mr James has been executed for capital murder, and justice has been served for Faith Hall."
She said the execution sends an "unmistakable message was sent that Alabama stands with victims of domestic violence".
The execution began a few minutes after 9pm CDT following a nearly three-hour delay. James did not open his eyes or show any deliberate movements at any point during the procedure. He did not speak when the warden asked if he had any final words. His breathing became laboured, with deep pulsing breaths, and slowed until it was not visible.
Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Hamm, responding to a question about why the execution was delayed, said the state is, "very deliberate in our process in making sure everything goes according to plan." He did not elaborate. Hamm also said James, who showed no movements at any point, was not sedated.
The execution took place at a prison that houses the state's death row. An inmate put signs in a cell window calling the execution a "murder".
