Gov. Kay Ivey commutes death sentence of Charles ‘Sonny’ Burton

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey Tuesday commuted the death sentence for Charles “Sonny” Burton to life imprisonment amid a mounting outcry over what had been his scheduled execution on Thursday.

A jury convicted Burton in 1992 of felony capital murder in the death of Doug Battle during the robbery of an AutoZone store in Talladega the previous year.

Burton was involved in the robbery, but did not kill Battle and was not present in the store when he was killed. Derrick DeBruce, who shot and killed Battle, was also sentenced to death, but later had the sentence commuted to life in prison. DeBruce died in 2020.

Ivey said in a statement Tuesday that she firmly believes in the death penalty but said she could not proceed with Burton’s execution considering the “disparate circumstances” pertaining to his case.

“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,” the statement said.

Burton said in a statement released by his attorneys Tuesday that Ivey had “proven to the people of Alabama, and the world, that she is a responsible governor.”

“And I thank her,” the statement said. “Just saying thank you doesn’t seem like much. But it’s what I can give her. And I do thank her. Thank you, governor.”

Matt Schultz, Burton’s attorney, said in a statement Tuesday that Ivey “exercised one of her most important executive powers appropriately, and with wisdom.”

“By halting what would have been, even by the Attorney General’s prior admission, an “arguably unjust” execution, today’s grant of clemency strengthens, rather than weakens, public trust in our system of justice,” the statement said. “The executive clemency power was created for situations exactly like these: where a disproportionately unjust result has slipped through the cracks.”

Burton’s supporters hosted several rallies for the past several weeks in the hopes of garnering the public’s attention to increase the pressure on the governor to grant his application for clemency.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said in a statement Tuesday that he was “deeply disappointed” in the commutation and called Burton a murderer.

“Burton does not deserve special treatment because he is old—he could have been executed a long time ago, but like many death-row inmates, he chose to drag out his case through endless frivolous appeals,” Marshall said. “I firmly believe that he should have faced the punishment imposed by a jury of his peers and upheld by numerous judges.”

Speaking on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives Tuesday afternoon, Rep. Napoleon Bracy, D-Saraland, praised Ivey for commuting Burton’s sentence.

“This didn’t have anything to do with race, this didn’t have anything to do with party, this was about compassion,” he said. “To see the governor commute this sentence, it was just a level of compassion.”

Bracy said Ivey’s move made him “proud to be an Alabamian,” which led to applause from Democrats and Republicans in the chamber.

Ivey announced in early February that she had scheduled Burton’s execution for Thursday, the first of the year, after the Alabama Supreme Court granted a motion filed by the Alabama Attorney General’s Office to have Burton put to death.

In a letter Ivey sent to John Hamm, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Corrections, to inform him about her decision, she said that she reserved the right to possibly commute Burton’s sentence, she “had no plans to grant clemency” in the case.

A spokesperson reiterated her stance in an email as late as Monday.

“At this time, as previously noted, Governor Ivey has no plans to grant clemency. A jury convicted Mr. Burton of capital murder and unanimously recommended a sentence of death,” the spokesperson said in the email. “Over the past 33 years, his conviction and sentence has been reviewed at least nine times, and no court has found any reason to overturn the jury’s decision.”

According to court documents, Burton and five other people robbed the AutoZone store on Aug. 16, 1991. Burton entered the store and purchased several items before he asked the cashier for the location of the restroom. He then pointed a gun at the cashier and ordered the cashier to take him to the safe.

During the incident, DeBruce then told everyone in the store to lay down on the floor. Battle then walked in on the robbery and DeBruce told him to get on the floor. Battle had trouble complying with DeBruce’s demand and the two began arguing.

DeBruce then struck Battle who then fell to the floor. DeBruce then shot him.

DeBruce’s accomplices in the robbery, including Burton had already left the establishment preparing to leave when DeBruce shot Battle.

Burton expressed remorse for his role in the robbery and urged Ivey to grant him clemency, maintaining that he meant for Battle to lose his life.

Burton’s attorneys cited DeBruce’s sentence reduction, which came after the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2014 that DeBruce had ineffective counsel at his trial.

Priscilla Townsend, one of the jurors in Burton’s trial, said in a statement that she would not have voted to have Burton executed if she had known that he would receive a harsher sentence than DeBruce.

Battle’s daughter, Tori Battle, also requested that Ivey spare Burton from getting executed.

Burton’s supporters praised Ivey’s decision.

“Governor Ivey just admitted a fundamental truth: the death penalty cannot be trusted,” said Rev. Jeff Hood, founder of the Execution Intervention Project and the spiritual advisor to several people who have been executed. “You cannot grant clemency in one case and then strap the next prisoner down with confidence. Every execution scheduled from this day forward is suspect. Today, the only question left is whether she has the courage to follow her revelation to its logical conclusion and stop the killing once and for all.”

Updated at 12:45 p.m. with additional bankground and comment from Attorney General Steve Marshall and Rev. Jeff Hood; at 1:10 p.m. with comments from Rep. Napoleon Bracy, D-Saraland; at 1:36 p.m. with comments from Burton and his attorneys and at 4:37 p.m. with a comment from Burton attorney Matt Schultz.