Kay Ivey, governor of Alabama, has commuted the death sentence of 75-year-old Charles “Sonny” Burton, just days before his scheduled execution. Ivey cited that Burton did not pull the trigger in the 1991 shooting for which he was convicted.
Burton had spent more than three decades on death row for his role as an accomplice in a robbery at a Talladega store, during which customer Doug Battle was fatally shot. Investigators determined that Burton was outside the building when his accomplice, Derrick DeBruce, fired the fatal shot.
Although Burton was convicted of capital felony murder and sentenced to death in 1992, DeBruce’s death sentence was later reduced to life without parole; he subsequently died in prison.
In commuting Burton’s sentence to life imprisonment without parole, Ivey said in a statement, “Charles Burton did not shoot the victim, did not direct the triggerman to shoot the victim and had already left the store by the time the shooting occurred. I cannot proceed in good conscience with the execution of Mr. Burton under such disparate circumstances. I believe it would be unjust for one participant in this crime to be executed while the participant who pulled the trigger was not.”
This marks the second time Ivey has pardoned a death row inmate since taking office in 2017. During her tenure, she has presided over 25 executions.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, five US death row inmates have been executed so far this year.