Alabama's governor has changed a 75-year-old man's death sentence to life in prison after determining it would be unfair to execute him when his accomplice who actually fired the fatal shot received a lesser sentence. Charles Burton was scheduled for execution this week for a 1991 robbery-murder, but he had already left the scene when the victim was killed.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama’s governor has spared a 75-year-old death row prisoner from execution just days before it was scheduled to take place, citing concerns about fairness in the case.
Gov. Kay Ivey announced Tuesday that she has changed Charles “Sonny” Burton’s death sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Burton had been facing execution this week for his role in the 1991 murder of Doug Battle during a robbery, despite the fact that Burton was not present in the building when Battle was actually shot and killed.
The fatal shooting was carried out by Burton’s co-defendant, who had his own death sentence overturned on appeal and converted to life in prison. This disparity in punishment prompted the Republican governor’s decision to intervene.
“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 Republican governor said in a statement.
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