On Tuesday, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey granted clemency to a death-row inmate who was sentenced for a murder he was not charged with committing. Charles “Sonny” Burton had been awaiting execution for his role in the 1991 robbery of an auto parts store by a group of men that led to the death of Douglas Battle. Burton had left the store before Derrick DeBruce shot and killed Battle.
The governor cited the disproportionate sentences given to DeBruce and Burton as the reason for her decision. In a statement, she said that although she supports the use of the death penalty, “it would be unjust for one participant in this crime to be executed while the participant who pulled the trigger was not.”
Ivey’s action, which commuted Burton’s sentence to life without parole, came after months of advocacy from anti-death penalty groups. Additionally, Tori Battle, the victim’s daughter, had asked the governor to spare Burton from execution.
Laura Porter, executive director of the U.S. Campaign to End the Death Penalty, praised the governor’s decision. “We are grateful that Governor Ivey recognized that Charles ‘Sonny’ Burton should not be executed,” she said. “It is uplifting to see that more and more governors across the ideological spectrum are recognizing problems with death penalty cases.”
A leading conservative organization that questions the alignment of the death penalty with its values also thanked Ivey for Burton’s clemency. Demetrius Minor, executive director of Conservatives Concerned, wrote in a statement that “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.” He added that “Governor Ivey acted on these conservative principles.”
Burton had been scheduled to be executed on Thursday, March 12, by nitrogen gas.
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