Montgomery, Alaa.. Charles “Sonny” Burton said no one was supposed to get hurt during the 1991 AutoZone robbery that landed him on death row, and he only later learned that another man in the group of robbers had shot and killed one of the store’s customers.
“I didn’t know anything about anyone getting hurt until we were on our way back,” Burton said in a phone interview last month from Holman Correctional Facility in Alabama. “No, someone’s supposed to get hurt.”
Burton, 75, is scheduled to be executed on March 12 for the murder of Doug Battle, a 34-year-old former Army soldier and father of four. He will be executed with nitrogen gas, a method that the state began using in 2024.
No one disputes that Battle was shot and killed by another man, Derek DeBrosse. DeBrosse was initially sentenced to death, but a federal court overturned the death sentence after finding he did not have adequate counsel. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and died in prison.
Burton’s supporters and family members urged Gov. Kay Ivey To be considered for clemency For him. Several jurors in Burton’s 1992 trial were among those who urged that his life be spared. Battle’s daughter sent Ivey a letter urging leniency, asking “how it makes legal sense” to execute Burton. The Associated Press was unable to reach other members of Patel’s family.
“Even people who are very supportive of the death penalty realize this situation is wrong,” said Matt Schultz, an assistant federal defender representing Burton. “Even by the evidence presented by the state here, Mr. Burton did not kill anyone. Mr. Burton did not order anyone to be killed. He was not even in the building.”
Ivey’s spokeswoman, Gina Maiola, said Friday that the governor reviews each death penalty case, and “at this time, as previously stated, Governor Ivey has no plans to grant clemency.”
“A jury convicted Mr. Burton of capital murder and unanimously recommended that he be sentenced to death,” Maiola wrote in an email. “Over the past 33 years, his conviction and sentence have been reviewed at least nine times, and no court has found any reason to overturn the jury’s decision.”
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office opposed the clemency request.
The US Supreme Court has allowed the death penalty under certain circumstances, including participation in a felony in which someone was killed.
Robin M. said: Maher, Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said that the Center documented at least 22 cases in which the executed person participated in a felony during which one of the victims died at the hands of another participant.
She said she thinks most people agree the death penalty should only be applied to people who actually kill someone.
The shooting occurred on August 16, 1991, during a robbery of an auto parts store in Talladega.
After Burton and other robbers left the store, DeBrosse shot Battle, court testimony indicated. Battle entered the store as the robbery was about to end and exchanged words with DeBruce.
Burton said he did not hear the shooting and did not learn about it until later.
“DeBrosse told me one of the guys got shot, and he shot him in the buttocks. I said, ‘Man, you didn’t tell me you wound up shooting somebody.’ I was angry. I was really angry. “I was angry,” Burton recalls.
It was later learned that the man had died.
Prosecutors during the trial portrayed Burton as the leader of the robbery ring and the one responsible for Battle’s death. He questions this assessment.
Burton said he wanted to apologize to the Battle family.
“I’m so sorry. If I had the power to bring him back, I would. I’m so sorry,” Burton said.
He said he was grateful that one of Patel’s children offered him forgiveness.
He also said he hopes the governor changes her mind.
“I hope and pray that God will grant me leniency. And allow me to reach out to the youth on the street,” Burton said.
Burton’s daughter, Lois Harris, last month held signs outside the governor’s mansion that read, “Save my father” and “Clemency for Sonny.”
“It’s not fair that he gets the death penalty and the killer gets life. It’s so wrong,” Harris said.