Road to Execution in Alabama
Actions taken by the state of Alabama against death row inmates.
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey commuted the death sentence of an inmate two days before he was to be executed, saying it was “unjust” for him to end his life even though he was not the mastermind of the robbery.
The Republican governor on Tuesday, March 10, commuted the death sentence of 75-year-old Charles Lee “Sonny” Burton to life in prison without parole.
Burton was scheduled to be executed on Thursday, March 12, for the death of customer Doug Battle, who was killed in an AutoZone robbery in Talladega, Alabama, on August 16, 1991.
That day, Burton and five other men robbed the store and its customers. But only one of the robbers, a man named Derrick DeBruce, decided to shoot Battle. Barton had already left the building and did not know Battle had been shot.
Burton was sentenced to death, but DeBruce was ultimately sentenced to life in prison.
“Charles Barton did not shoot the victim, did not instruct the triggerman to shoot the victim, and had already left the store when the shooting occurred,” Ivey said in a statement to USA TODAY on Tuesday, March 10. “However, while Mr. Barton was scheduled to be executed, Mr. DeBruce was allowed to spend the rest of his life in prison.”
She continued: “Under these different circumstances, I cannot in good conscience proceed with the execution of Mr. Barton. I believe it is unjust that one of the participants in this crime should be executed and the one who pulled the trigger should not.”
Like many other states, Alabama law allows defendants who commit crimes such as robbery to be convicted of murder, even if they do not commit suicide. Barton was convicted under that law.
As her execution nears, the pressure on Ivey increases.
Battle’s daughter wrote an op-ed in December condemning the execution of Burton for her father’s murder. And on Monday, March 9, supporters holding signs that read “Save Sonny” gathered at the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery to deliver a petition to Ivey asking for clemency for Burton. The petition has gathered over 67,000 signatures.
“It is truly unjust to put to death a man who not only did not commit the murder, but who did not encourage, participate in, or witness the shooting, and then execute him after the shooter received a life sentence,” Barton’s lawyers wrote in a clemency petition to Ivey in the weeks leading up to the execution. “As Alabama’s top law enforcement officer, it is not only within your power, but your duty, to correct such injustices.”
The Alabama Attorney General’s Office had argued for the execution to proceed, saying in a filing with the U.S. Supreme Court that Barton was the “ringleader” of six people who robbed an AutoZone in Talladega that day and dismissed his fight for a stay of execution as a delaying tactic.
“A stay of execution or other injunctive relief that could delay Mr. Barton’s execution would undermine the powerful interests shared by the state, the public, and victims of crime in the timely execution of Mr. Barton’s sentence,” the agency said. “Unpunished murder is an essential and continuing damage to these interests and the rule of law.”
