Alabama Courts and Clemency

Gov. Kay Ivey has set March 12 as the execution date for Charles “Sonny” Burton, a non‑shooter convicted in a 1991 AutoZone murder, and specified nitrogen gas as the method while saying she has “no current plans” to grant clemency but retains authority to reprieve or commute. Burton’s defense and several jurors have urged clemency—six of eight surviving jurors say they do not object to commutation, three say they would not have recommended death had they known the shooter’s sentence would be reduced to life, juror Priscilla Townsend has publicly recanted her recommendation, and a 2015 Alabama filing called it “arguably unjust” to execute Burton if the shooter, Derrick DeBruce, is not also sentenced to death.