Faith leaders, community members and family members of Sonny Burton plan to march from the Governor’s Mansion to the Alabama State Capitol on Monday morning to deliver more than 60,000 petition signatures urging Governor Kay Ivey to grant clemency.
The demonstration will begin at 7:30 a.m. outside the Governor’s Mansion at 1142 South Perry Street in Montgomery. Participants will march about 1.5 miles to the State Capitol, where Burton’s children are expected to deliver the petitions to the governor’s office between 8:40 and 9:00 a.m.
Organizers say the event will begin with a peaceful demonstration opposing Burton’s scheduled March 12 execution before transitioning into the march to the Capitol. The gathering will conclude with a prayer asking the governor to use her authority to spare Burton’s life.
Burton was sentenced to death in 1992 for a fatal shooting carried out by another man. Supporters argue Burton neither pulled the trigger nor was present when the shooting occurred.
The man who committed the killing was originally sentenced to death but was later resentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Because of the circumstances of the case, six of the eight living jurors from Burton’s trial have publicly supported commuting Burton’s sentence to life without parole. The victim’s daughter has also urged Ivey to grant clemency.
“More than 60,000 people agree that Gov. Ivey should use her authority to save Sonny Burton because executing him for a killing he did not do, while the real killer received a lesser punishment, is an affront to our notion of fairness and justice,” Burton’s attorney Matt Schulz said.
Faith leaders participating in the event include Reverend R.K. Smith of the historic Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, among others.
Organizers say the march comes days before Burton’s scheduled execution, leaving what supporters describe as a narrow window for the governor to intervene.
A livestream of the event will be available on Facebook beginning at 8 a.m.
