{"id":478,"date":"2026-03-10T18:09:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T18:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/socializenews.com\/?p=478"},"modified":"2026-03-10T18:09:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T18:09:29","slug":"alabama-governor-commutes-death-sentence-of-inmate-whose-accomplice-fired-fatal-shot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/socializenews.com\/?p=478","title":{"rendered":"Alabama governor commutes death sentence of inmate whose accomplice fired fatal shot"},"content":{"rendered":"

MONTGOMERY, Ala.\u00a0 \u2014 Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Tuesday 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 was killed.<\/p>\n

Ivey reduced Charles \u201cSonny\u201d Burton\u2019s sentence to life in prison without possibility of parole, marking just the second time the Republican governor has granted clemency to a death row inmate since taking office in 2017.<\/p>\n

Burton was sentenced to death<\/span>\u00a0for the 1991 shooting death of a customer, Doug Battle, during a store robbery. But Burton had left the building before another man, Derrick DeBruce, killed Battle. DeBruce\u2019s death sentence was later reduced on appeal to life in prison.<\/p>\n

Ivey, who has presided over 25 executions, said she firmly believes in the death penalty as \u201cjust punishment for society\u2019s most heinous offenders,\u201d but said it also must be administered fairly and proportionately.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI 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,\u201d Ivey said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Burton was scheduled to be executed Thursday night by nitrogen gas.<\/p>\n

Battle was shot in the back during an Aug. 16, 1991, robbery of an AutoZone auto parts store in Talladega. Court testimony indicated that DeBruce shot Battle after Burton and other robbers had left the store. Battle had entered the store as the robbery was winding down and exchanged words with DeBruce.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n

\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Burton\u2019s supporters and family members had urged Ivey\u00a0to consider clemency<\/span>\u00a0for the inmate, who is sometimes confined to a wheelchair. Multiple jurors from Burton\u2019s 1992 trial were among those urging his life be spared. Battle\u2019s daughter sent a letter to Ivey urging clemency, asking \u201chow does it legally make sense\u201d to execute Burton.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Members of Burton\u2019s legal team cheered when they received the news Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just so happy, so happy. It\u2019s just tears of joy,\u201d Burton\u2019s daughter, Lois Harris, said through sobs during a telephone interview. Harris said she wants to thank Ivey for granting clemency.<\/p>\n

Alice Marie Johnson<\/span>, whom President Donald Trump had tapped last year as his \u201cpardon czar\u201d after commuting her sentence for federal drug and money laundering charges, praised Ivey. She said the governor \u201cshowed what courageous and common sense leadership looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBy commuting the death sentence of Charles \u201cSonny\u201d Burton, she ensured that justice \u2014 not technicalities \u2014 guides the most serious decision a state can make,\u201d Johnson wrote on social media.<\/p>\n

But Attorney General Steve Marshall slammed the move, saying \u201cThere has never been any doubt that Sonny Burton has Douglas Battle\u2019s blood on his hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burton organized the armed robbery and \u201cheld a gun to the store manager\u2019s head\u201d before dividing up the proceeds, Marshall said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Burton told The Associated Press last month that no one was supposed to be injured in the robbery and that he didn\u2019t know until later that DeBruce had shot anyone.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know anything about nobody getting hurt until we were on the way back. No, nobody supposed to get hurt,\u201d Burton said in a telephone interview from Alabama\u2019s Holman Correctional Facility<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Burton said he wants to apologize to Battle\u2019s family. \u201cI\u2019m so sorry. If I had the power to bring him back, I would. I\u2019m so sorry,\u201d Burton said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MONTGOMERY, Ala.\u00a0 \u2014 Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Tuesday commuted the death sentence of a 75-year-old inmate who was set to be executed this week…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":480,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/socializenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/socializenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/socializenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socializenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socializenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=478"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/socializenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":481,"href":"https:\/\/socializenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478\/revisions\/481"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socializenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/socializenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socializenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socializenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}