Retired Alabama Judge Loyd Little (pic­tured) recent­ly changed his mind about a death sen­tence he imposed on Derrick Mason in 1995 for a mur­der dur­ing a con­ve­nience store rob­bery. Mason is sched­uled for exe­cu­tion on September 22. Judge Little wrote a let­ter to be sub­mit­ted to Alabama Governor Robert Bentley request­ing that Mason’s sen­tence be com­mut­ed to life in prison with­out parole. The judge explained the change in his think­ing: ​“Years of expe­ri­ence and see­ing so many oth­er cap­i­tal mur­der cas­es where it was imposed and where it was not imposed.… I real­ized it real­ly was not the right deci­sion.” Judge Little had only been on the bench six months when he heard Mason’s case. In Alabama, the jury makes only a rec­om­men­da­tion regard­ing sen­tenc­ing. The tri­al judge makes the actu­al life or death decision.

Retired Madison County District Attorney Tim Morgan, who pros­e­cut­ed Mason, crit­i­cized the judge: ​“I find it to be kind of cow­ard­ly now that he’s retired and no one has the chance to run against him.”

(K. Clines, ​“Retired Madison County judge who sen­tenced con­ve­nience store killer to death changes his mind,” Huntsville Times, September 8, 2011). See New Voices and Arbitrariness.

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