Kay Ivey commutes sentence of Charles ‘Sonny’ Burton, saying death penalty would be unfair as he did not fire the fatal shot
The governor of Alabama commuted the death sentence of a 75-year-old inmate who was set to be executed this week, even though he was not in the building when the victim of the murder he was sentenced for was killed.
Kay Ivey, the Republican governor of the state, reduced Charles “Sonny” Burton’s sentence to life in prison without possibility of parole this week. The move marks the second time the governor has granted clemency of a death row inmate since she took office in 2017.
Burton was sentenced to death for the 1991 shooting death of a customer, Doug Battle, during a store robbery. However, another man, Derrick DeBruce, shot Battle after Burton had left the store.
DeBruce’s death sentence was reduced on appeal to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
