Death row inmate who didn’t kill anyone spared execution in last-minute twist
A 75-year-old death row inmate in Alabama has just been spared execution — a matter of days before he was due to be killed by the state.
Governor Kay Ivey stepped in to commute the sentence of Charles ‘Sonny’ Burton, who had been scheduled to be executed this week. Burton, who now uses a wheelchair, had spent the past few weeks preparing for his death at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore.
Officials were already arranging the execution process for tomorrow night (Thursday) until news broke. Burton had even chosen his final meal and had begun writing his last will and testament.
The execution was set to use nitrogen gas, a controversial method Alabama first began using back in 2024, which relies on death by hypoxia. Instead, the governor ruled that Burton will now spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The decision came after concerns were raised about Burton’s precise role in the 1991 robbery that resulted in the death of Douglas Battle. Burton organised the armed robbery, according to Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, but wasn’t inside the building when the fatal shooting occurred.
Prosecutors relied on a state law that allows accomplices to receive the death penalty if a killing happens during another serious crime, such as armed robbery.
Another man involved in the crime, Derrick DeBruce, was the person who actually pulled the trigger. Both men were originally convicted of capital murder. However, DeBruce later had his death sentence overturned during an appeal. He was resentenced to life in prison without parole.
DeBruce later died while serving that sentence. The difference in punishments between the two men became central to calls for clemency in Sonny’s case.
Governor Ivey said she still supports capital punishment but argued that the law must always be applied fairly. In a statement explaining her decision she said the case raised serious concerns about fairness.
‘I believe it would be unjust for one participant in this crime to be executed while the participant who pulled the trigger was not,’ Ivey said. ‘To be clear, Mr. Burton will not be eligible for parole and will rightfully spend the remainder of his life behind bars for his role in the robbery that led to the murder of Doug Battle. He will now receive the same punishment as the triggerman.’
Sonny’s daughter Lois Harris broke down in tears while speaking to the Associated Press shortly after the decision was announced. ‘I’m just so happy, so happy. It’s just tears of joy.’
Burton himself also issued a short message of thanks to the governor through his lawyers. ‘Just saying thank you doesn’t seem like much. But it’s what I can give her.’
Supporters and death penalty abolitionists had pushed for clemency for many months. Several jurors who sat on his original trial in 1992 had also urged the governor to spare his life.
Even members of the victim’s family questioned the decision to carry out Burton’s death sentence.
Battle’s daughter, Tori, wrote to Governor Ivey asking her to intervene and grant a pardon. She asked ‘how does it legally make sense’ to execute Burton. Her letter became one of several appeals submitted during the clemency campaign. Burton’s legal team argued that carrying out the death penalty against someone who hadn’t carried out the shooting would be grossly unfair.
Matt Schulz, an assistant federal defender who represented Burton, later said that the governor had made the correct decision after reviewing the case.
Schulz said that the contrast between Burton’s sentence and the outcome for the man who fired the fatal shot was impossible to ignore. ‘This was absolutely the right decision for the governor to make for any number of reasons,’ he said.
‘The biggest one is the fact that this dichotomy of executing a non-shooter who did not even see the shooting take place after the state itself had resentenced the shooter to life without parole.’
Burton had spoken about the robbery during an interview with Associated Press last month. He said the plan had never been for anyone to be harmed during the crime.
‘I didn’t know anything about nobody getting hurt until we were on the way back. No, nobody supposed to get hurt,’ he said from Holman Correctional Facility.
He also expressed regret over the death of Douglas Battle. Burton said he wanted to apologise to the victim’s relatives for their loss. ‘I’m so sorry. If I had the power to bring him back, I would,’ he said.
Alice Marie Johnson, who was appointed by Donald Trump as a ‘pardon czar’ after receiving clemency herself, praised the governor and her decision on social media.
She said Ivey had ‘showed what courageous and common sense leadership looks like,’ adding: ‘By commuting the death sentence of Charles “Sonny” Burton, she ensured that justice — not technicalities — guides the most serious decision a state can make.’
Campaign groups also welcomed the decision. Laura Porter from the US Campaign to End the Death Penalty said: ‘We are grateful that Governor Ivey recognized that Charles “Sonny” Burton should not be executed.
‘The death penalty process is deeply flawed when someone who was not present for the killing faces execution, while the person who committed the murder does not. It is uplifting to see that more and more governors across the ideological spectrum are recognising problems with death penalty cases.’
Conservative campaigner Demetrius Minor added: ‘This brings tremendous relief to his family and so many across the country. Conservatives know that government power can be abused and should not be used to execute someone who was not in the building when the murder was committed. Governor Ivey acted on these conservative principles.’
Not everyone welcomed the decision, however. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall criticised the move shortly after it was announced. He said Burton still carried responsibility for the killing. ‘There has never been any doubt that Sonny Burton has Douglas Battle’s blood on his hands,’ Marshall said.
Prosecutors had long argued Burton organised the robbery that led to the shooting. Marshall said Burton had ‘held a gun to the store manager’s head’ before the stolen money was divided among those involved.