Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey announced Tuesday the death sentence of Charles “Sonny” Burton would be commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Burton was sentenced to death under Alabama’s felony murder statute relating to a 1991 robbery with five other men at an AutoZone in Talladega, where he acted as an accomplice and stole from a safe. Under the statute, prosecutors are permitted to “charge and convict any person of murder without having to prove that they intended to cause another person’s death.”
When Burton had already vacated the premises, 34-year-old Doug Battle entered the store and exchanged arguments with Derrick DeBruce, another member of the group who then shot and killed Battle.
DeBruce was initially sentenced to death, but his death sentence was vacated in a decision by a federal court that found he had inadequate counsel. He was later resentenced to life in prison in 2014.
Prosecutors in the case argued that Burton was the leader of the group, holding an employee at gunpoint while the other men robbed the safe and other customers before the shooting. A jury convicted Burton of capital felony murder and unanimously recommended the death penalty at his 1992 trial.
Critics of the state’s decision found it unfair for Burton to be faced with the death penalty for a death he was not responsible for, while DeBruce did not face the death penalty. The Death Penalty Information Center reported that former jurors in Burton’s case, as well as Battle’s daughter, Tori Battle, had both written op-eds to Ivey, urging her to grant clemency.
Tori Battle argued that there was no evidence Burton had an idea that the shooting would occur, a statement Burton himself has echoed.
In a phone interview with the Alabama Reflector, Burton expressed remorse.
“All the years I have suffered with this, I suffered with the guilt, the pain, that the victim was feeling, that the victim’s family was feeling,” Burton said. “And I am so sorry. I want them to know that I am so sorry. And if I had the power to bring Mr. Battle back, I would do it.”
Ivey has presided over 25 executions since becoming governor in 2017, around a third of the 83 executions in the state of Alabama since 1976. She has reduced only one other sentence.
“I cannot proceed in good conscience with the execution of Mr. Burton under such disparate circumstances,” Ivey said. “I believe it would be unjust for one participant in this crime to be executed while the participant who pulled the trigger was not. He will now receive the same punishment as the triggerman.”
Alabama has one of the highest execution rates in the nation, behind Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri and Delaware.
Priscilla Townsend, a juror who voted to convict Burton and charge him with the death penalty in 1992, wrote an op-ed in Al.com about the execution and said that the way prosecutors framed Burton as the “ringleader” in the case had “shaped everything.”
“I personally feel Mr. Burton has served his time, and even deserves to be home with his family and loved ones,” Townsend said. “But, at the very least, he does not deserve to die for a shooting he did not commit.”
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