Alabama Governor Kay Ivey commuted the death sentence of Alabama inmate Charles “Sonny” Burton on Tuesday, prompting reflection from numerous advocates and state leaders.
Burton, a 75-year-old inmate who was scheduled to be killed by nitrogen hypoxia on Thursday, has sat on Alabama’s death row for more than three decades for his connection to the shooting death of Doug Battle, which occurred during a 1992 robbery at an AutoZone in Talladega.
The inmate will now live out the rest of his life behind bars, without the possibility of parole.
Burton’s attorney, Assistant Federal Defender Matt Schulz, commended Ivey for commuting the inmate’s sentence, highlighting the Alabama attorney general office’s 2015 admission that executing Burton while DeBruce was allowed to live out his sentence behind bars would be “unusual and arguably unjust.”
“Indeed, by her decision today, Governor Ivey exercised one of her most important executive powers appropriately, and with wisdom,” Schulz wrote. “There is no question that this was a tragedy, more than anything for the family of the innocent victim in this case, Mr. Doug Battle, who lost his life. The forgiveness and reconciliation that has been offered means more to [Burton] even than today’s commutation.”
“Governor Ivey’s decision is to be applauded, as it demonstrates measured, responsible, and respectable, leadership,” he continued. “Though a ‘thank you,’ indeed falls short of the level of gratitude the parties wish to express, Sonny Burton, his family, his friends, his legal team, and all those who have supported Sonny’s request for clemency thank you, Governor Ivey.”
The 11th-hour success of Burton’s clemency petition marked the culmination of nearly 18 years of work that Schulz has conducted as Burton’s legal representation.
In an interview following the governor’s announcement, Schulz told APR that his work with Burton has spanned the entirety of his career as a federal defender since he took his position in 2008.
“I had just finished clerking in both the 8th and 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and I came here to start this work. The very first set of banker’s boxes that were put on my desk were Charles ‘Sonny’ Burton’s, and I started working on his case,” Schulz said.
“I have a tremendous mix of emotions right now, as I’m sure you can imagine, because two days from now, I was scheduled to have to watch a man be executed who did not kill anyone,” he added.
Schulz was present with Burton at the death row visitation yard on Tuesday morning when Ivey’s commutation was issued.
“The warden’s secretary very graciously came out to me and let me know that I needed to go call my paralegal,” he said. “I left the prison and had to drive some distance away to get away from the cell phone blockers they use at the prison parking lot there, and finally was able to reach the office and get the confirmation.”
“I was blessed to be able to be the one to walk into the prison and tell Sonny,” Schulz continued. “He got a look on his face of absolute joy and a bit of astonishment, and he reached his arms up, and we gave each other a big, a great big hug, and there were tears. And so, it was a heck of a moment, and about 10 minutes after that, his daughter showed up, and that was a beautiful thing to see.”
“She had been living with this cloud of her dad, who never killed anyone, about to be executed in two days, and tonight she’s going to be able to go to bed knowing that when her dad does go home to heaven, it will be God taking him home and not the state,” he added.
In a video released following Ivey’s decision, Burton’s spiritual advisor, Imam Aswan Abdul-Addar of Masjid Baitul Haqq in Mobile, thanked activists who pushed for Burton’s clemency alongside the governor, Burton’s legal team and news outlets that have covered Burton’s case.
“The numerous, numerous advocates—whether they be Muslim, Christian, or Jewish, spiritualist, atheist, thank you all,” Abdul-Addar said. “What a great fight, and what a great victory.”
Burton, who has been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, primarily uses a wheelchair and must wear a helmet due to frequent falls, has received an outpour of public support for his commutation since his execution was scheduled last month.
Demonstrators delivered more than 65,000 petition signatures to the governor’s office on Monday morning, and faith leaders participated in a virtual “prayer call for clemency” for the inmate later in the day.
Tori Battle, the daughter of the man killed during the robbery that landed Burton on death row, penned a public letter to Ivey in December urging the governor to spare Burton’s life.
Schulz emphasized the importance that Battle’s support for clemency efforts held for the Burton, saying the inmate “still faces tremendous guilt” for his involvement in her father’s death. He described the mercy shown by Ivey and Battle as particularly impactful for Burton in light of his religious awakening in prison, which led him to grant forgiveness to the man who, in 1988, murdered Burton’s first wife, Carolyn Annie Burton.
“During his time on death row, through his Muslim faith, he worked to forgive that man, and when the man came up for parole, and the state sent him paperwork asking if he wanted to oppose the man’s parole, he said, ‘No.’ He declined to do so,” Schulz said. “And so, I can’t think of anyone more deserving of clemency than someone who, effectively in his own right, granted it to the man who murdered his own wife.”
Alongside praise from Burton’s legal team, the governor’s decision was met with reactions from a roster of current and former political leaders from across the state.
U.S. Representative Shomari Figures, D-Alabama, who condemned Burton’s planned execution over social media on Monday, celebrated the governor’s decision in a post on X.
“This is extraordinary news,” Figures wrote. “A big thank you to all the advocates who spoke out on Mr. Burton’s behalf. And thank you to Gov. Ivey for seeing reason and doing the right thing.”
U.S. Representative Terri Sewell, D-Alabama, also praised the governor for sparing Burton.
“This is welcome news and the right and just thing to do. While the robbery that led to the death of Doug Battle was a tragic and horrific crime, we know that Sonny Burton was not the man who pulled the trigger,” Sewell said.
“As the victim’s daughter so eloquently argued, it would be unjust and immoral for the State of Alabama to execute Sonny Burton, especially when the man who pulled the trigger was allowed to live out his life in prison,” she added.
Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman expressed support for Ivey’s decision allowing Burton to live during a Tuesday appearance on the radio program “Joey Clark Live.”
“I admire Governor Ivey’s courage and her wisdom and her understanding and belief in God,” Siegelman said.
The former governor cited his faith and experiences during his term and subsequent time in prison as prompting him to question how the death penalty is administered.
Siegelman highlighted that eight people were executed during his term as governor.
“I’m not proud of that at all,” he remarked, pointing to the case of Freddie Lee Wright, who was executed by the state in 2000.
Subsequent evidence found that Wright was outside of the building where the murder for which he was executed took place.
“The person who actually did the killing ended up getting life in prison, and got out, while Freddie Lee Wright was prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to death and ultimately executed for a murder that he did not commit,” Siegelman said.
The former governor cited that, in 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Imbler v. Pachtman that prosecutors have absolute immunity from civil lawsuits, even if they knowingly used false testimony or suppressed evidence.
He also highlighted racial disparities in prosecutorial misconduct and the Death Penalty Information Center’s finding that since 1972, for every eight people placed on death row in the U.S., one is exonerated. Since 1973, 202 people who were wrongly convicted and sentenced to death have subsequently been exonerated.
A study published by the National Registry of Exonerations found that, in 2016, 76 percent of Black defendants and 63 percent of white defendants who received exonerations for murder convictions faced prosecutorial misconduct during their trials.
“With those facts in mind, it’s difficult for me to say that I favor the death penalty,” he said. “What I do favor is truth and justice.”
While reactions to the success of Burton’s clemency petition from Alabama leaders were largely positive, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall slammed the governor for sparing the inmate, who he described as “a career criminal before he became a murderer.”
“I’ve been so busy that I have not yet read the attorney general’s statements, but I have heard some of the attorney general’s criticism of Governor Ivey,” Schulz said.
The attorney went on to describe the AG office’s overall argument that clemency was not appropriate in Burton’s case because of the jury’s verdict, which was subsequently upheld by appeals courts as “illogical at best.”
“Our state’s founders, just like our nation’s, recognize that no system of justice can be perfect,” he said. “That’s why they placed a fail-safe in a different branch of the government, in the Executive Branch to say, okay, when things slip through the cracks, when disproportionate results fall through the system and there is an unjust result, then it is the place of the Executive Branch, to step in and correct that unjust result.”
“I, we, are only ever so grateful that the person with the final authority was not Attorney General Marshall, but instead was someone rational,” Schulz added, expressing gratitude that Ivey exhibited “responsible temperance and wisdom” in deciding clemency was necessary for Burton.
“This would have been a real stain on Alabama’s system of justice, and by commuting the sentence, it really further legitimizes Alabama’s system of justice, and Governor Ivey should be proud.”
Burton’s commutation marks the second time Ivey has chosen to use her power as governor to spare a death row inmate, after she commuted the death sentence of Rocky Myers in February 2025.
No forensic evidence tied Myers to the murder for which he was sentenced to death, with Ivey stating that she had “enough questions” about Myers’ guilt that she could not move forward with his execution.
Marshall similarly decried the governor’s decision in Myers’ case, stating that he was “astonished” by the commutation.
