Alabama Governor Stops Execution Of Charles 'Sonny' Burton

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Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) on Tuesday commuted the death sentence of a 75-year-old man who, by the government’s own admission, never killed anyone.

Charles “Sonny” Burton, an accomplice in a 1991 robbery that ended with a fatal shooting, was scheduled to be executed by nitrogen hypoxia on Thursday. Ivey reduced his sentence to life without the possibility of parole, marking only the second time she has commuted a death sentence since entering office in 2017.

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Had the killing gone forward, Burton would have faced a harsher punishment than the man convicted of shooting the victim. Six of the eight living jurors wrote letters to Ivey indicating they had no opposition to Burton’s clemency, and three specifically requested his death sentence be commuted. The victim’s daughter also asked the governor to grant mercy. Burton, who has apologized for his role in the crime, is currently in poor health. He uses a wheelchair and wears a padded helmet to protect himself from frequent falls.

“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,” Ivey, who has allowed more than 25 executions to go forward, said in a statement.

Federal public defender Matt Schulz, who has represented Burton since 2008, thanked Ivey for her decision in a statement on Tuesday.