Alabama man faces execution despite not pulling the trigger in auto store customer’s death

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Charles “Sonny” Burton didn’t kill anyone. The state of Alabama might run it anyway.

Burton, 75, faces execution for his role as an accomplice in a 1991 auto parts store robbery in which customer Doug Battle was killed. No one disputes that another man, Derrick DeBruce, shot and killed Battle. Burton, one of six men involved in the robbery, was outside the store at the time of the shooting, according to testimony.

Both DeBruce and Burton were sentenced to death. But DeBruce was later sentenced to life in prison, leaving Burton — who neither shot nor ordered anyone killed — as the only person facing execution.

Matt Schulz, Burton’s attorney, said the case “represents an extreme exception” among death penalty cases.

In January, the Alabama Supreme Court allowed Gov. Kay Ivey to set an execution date for Burton using nitrogen gas. The victim’s daughter and several jurors from his 1992 trial are now urging the governor to grant clemency, arguing that the case raises fundamental questions of fairness.

“We hope and pray that Governor Ivey recognizes that this case fell through the cracks. It would be wrong to execute a man who didn’t even see the shooting take place, after the state agreed to sentence the shooter to life without the possibility of parole, and that’s just not the kind of case most people think of when they consider the death penalty,” Schulz said.

The shooting occurred on August 16, 1991, during a robbery at an AutoZone in Talladega.

Before entering, Burton, 40, said if anyone caused trouble in the store, he would “take care of it,” according to testimony.

DeBruce yelled for everyone to get off. Burton, also armed with a pistol, forced the manager to step back to open the safe.

When the robbery ended, Battle, a 34-year-old Army veteran and father of four, entered the store. He threw down his wallet, fell to the ground and exchanged words with DeBruce. LaJuan McCants, who was 16 at the time, testified that Burton and others left the store when DeBruce shot Battle in the back.

Afterward, Burton asked DeBruce in the getaway car why he shot the man, McCants testified.

During closing arguments, a prosecutor argued that Burton was “just as guilty as Derrick DeBruce, because he is there to aid and assist him.” Prosecutors cited the problem-handling statement as evidence that Burton was the leader of the robbery.

But Burton’s lawyers said there was only evidence that Burton intended to participate in a robbery and not harm anyone.

The victim’s daughter is among those who urged the governor to grant clemency.

Tori Battle, who was 9 when her father was killed, asked Ivey to “consider pardoning Mr. Burton and granting him clemency.”

“My father Doug Battle was many things. He was strong, but he valued peace. He did not believe in revenge,” she wrote in a letter to Ivey. The Associated Press was unable to reach her or other members of the Battle family for comment.

Six of the eight surviving jurors from the 1992 trial do not oppose the commutation, according to the clemency request. Three of them are calling for it, saying they would never have recommended the death penalty if the shooter had received a lesser sentence.

“It’s absolutely not fair. You don’t execute someone who didn’t pull the trigger,” Priscilla Townsend, one of the jurors, said in a telephone interview.

Townsend said they recommended a death sentence after an extremely emotional trial. Townsend said she still believes in the death penalty “for the worst of the worst,” but she added that it’s not Burton.

Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office opposed the clemency request.

“Burton was convicted of capital murder in April 1992 and the jury unanimously recommended the death penalty. This conviction and sentence were upheld on every level,” an office spokesperson said.

Most people on death row have been convicted of directly killing someone, but the U.S. Supreme Court allows the execution of accomplices in certain circumstances. Robin M. Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said the group has documented at least 22 cases in which the executed person participated in a crime in which a victim died at the hands of another participant.

In 1987, the United States Supreme Court allowed the death penalty for co-conspirators who did not pull the trigger if they demonstrated “reckless indifference” to human life. Maher said this created “arbitrariness between jurisdictions.” Richard S. Jaffe, an attorney not involved in Burton’s case, said Alabama law requires prosecutors to demonstrate that the accomplice had a “specific intent to kill.” Burton’s lawyers argued that intent was never established.

Pardons granted are rare in death row cases. Ivey granted pardon once. However, Republican governors in several states have granted pardons to those complicit in the murders. Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt commuted a death sentence in November.

Burton grew up with an alcoholic father who frequently beat him, according to sentencing documents. Despite that, he became a protector to the younger members of the family, said his sister Eddie Mae Ellison.

Ellison said his brother “is not perfect, but he is not the person that prosecutors have described.”

Today, she says her brother is in poor health. He is fragile and uses a wheelchair or walker to get around outside his cell.

“He didn’t lay a hand on that man,” Ellison said. “Why do you think it is necessary to kill him?” »