Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has commuted the death sentence of Charles “Sonny” Burton, a 75-year-old inmate who had been scheduled to be executed later this week, converting his punishment to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
According to NBC News, the decision halted an execution that had drawn national attention because Burton did not personally kill the victim whose death led to his conviction.
Burton had been set to die by nitrogen hypoxia on Thursday for his role in a 1991 robbery at an AutoZone store in Talladega, Alabama. During the robbery, a customer named Doug Battle was shot and killed by another participant, Derrick DeBruce. Court records show Burton entered the store armed, took cash from a safe, and left before the fatal shooting occurred.
In explaining the decision, Ivey said the circumstances surrounding the case made carrying out the death penalty inappropriate.
“Doug Battle was brutally murdered by Derrick DeBruce while shopping in an auto parts store,” the governor said in a statement. “But DeBruce was ultimately sentenced to life without parole. Charles Burton did not shoot the victim … and had already left the store by the time the shooting occurred.”
The case centered on Alabama’s felony-murder doctrine, which allows prosecutors to treat participants in certain felonies as responsible for deaths that occur during the crime, even if they did not personally commit the killing.
Burton’s sentence had remained in place for decades despite the shooter later receiving life without parole after winning a federal appeal. DeBruce died in prison in 2020.
Burton maintained that he never expected anyone to be killed during the robbery. Speaking earlier this month from William C. Holman Correctional Facility, where Alabama houses its execution chamber, he said, “I didn’t assist nobody. I didn’t aid nobody. I didn’t tell nobody to shoot nobody.”
His legal team also thanked Ivey following the commutation, with longtime attorney Matt Schulz calling the decision “measured, responsible, and respectable leadership.”
The decision was not without criticism. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall condemned the move, arguing that Burton still bore responsibility for the crime.
“There has never been any doubt that Sonny Burton has Douglas Battle’s blood on his hands,” Marshall said, according to AL.com, adding that a jury and multiple courts had upheld the conviction over three decades.
In a notable twist, the victim’s daughter had publicly urged the governor to grant clemency. Tori Battle wrote in a newspaper op-ed that executing Burton would not bring justice for her father’s death, saying she believed he had not intended for anyone to be killed.
Burton’s case also drew attention because of Alabama’s recent use of nitrogen gas as an execution method, which the state first implemented in 2024. With the commutation, Burton becomes only the second person whose death sentence Ivey has reduced during her time as governor.