Alabama’s governor made a last-minute decision to save a 75-year-old death row inmate from execution.
Charles ‘Sonny’ Burton was scheduled to be executed with nitrogen gas on Thursday, but Kay Ivey ruled two days earlier that, because he had not pulled the trigger in a murder case more than three decades earlier, he could not in “good conscience” be given the death penalty.
Burton has served 33 years on death row for the murder of Doug Battle, whose father was shot and killed in a 1991 robbery at an AutoZone store in Talladega. Burton did not pull the trigger, and five other suspects were involved, but anyone who takes part in a robbery that ends in death can still be convicted of murder in the state of Alabama.
The man who pulled the trigger, Derrick DeBruce, was convicted of murder, but in 2014 his death sentence was commuted to life in prison without parole. He died in 2020.
Kay Ivey said, “I cannot in good conscience proceed with Mr Burton’s execution under such extreme circumstances. I believe it would be unjust to execute any participant in this crime while the actual shooter remains unexecuted.
Recently, campaigners have rallied outside Burton’s mansion to have him removed from death row. His victim’s daughter, Tori Battle, also opposed the execution. He wrote a letter to Montgomery Consultants explaining why it should not proceed.
It states: “Like any child who suffered sudden, senseless violence, I asked a question to which there was no answer: Why did you have to kill him? More than three decades later, I’m asking that question again. This time, the question is directed towards the state of Alabama.
She further said, “I am a family member of a victim. My voice should matter. My love for my father does not require another death, especially one that defies logic.”
Priscilla Townsend, who served on the jury during Burton’s conviction, also questioned his execution.
He said, “Mr Burton was not inside the AutoZone at the time of the murder. He was not the shooter, and yet the state sought and secured the death penalty against him. ” Death Penalty Information Center.
After it was confirmed that Burton had been saved from execution, an Instagram account dedicated to commuting his sentence thanked the governor.
“This decision ensures that final and irreversible punishment will not be carried out… Today is a reminder that mercy is an essential part of justice,” the ‘life4sonnyb’ page said.
Burton previously wrote a letter to the Battle family apologising. He also claimed that he never thought the robbery would end in murder and that he was “terrified” when he learned that it did.
