Entries tagged with “Kay Ivey”

Executions

Mar 16, 2026

The New York Times Editorial Board Condemns Secrecy, Arbitrariness of U.S. Death Penalty

The New York Times edi­to­r­i­al board pub­lished an arti­cle on March 13, 2026, con­demn­ing use of the death penal­ty in the coun­try as secre­tive, arbi­trary, and unjust. Relying heav­i­ly on research and data main­tained by the Death Penalty Information Center, the board describes the events of 2025, with its sharp increase in exe­cu­tions, as a​“dark new peri­od” in the nation’s his­to­ry. The board attrib­ut­es much of the surge to Florida, which alone car­ried out 19 executions in…

Upcoming Executions

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Mar 02, 2026

Alabama Governor Commutes Charles Burton’s Death Sentence After Calls from Broad Coalition of Supporters

**UPDATE:** On March 10, 2026, two days ahead of his sched­uled exe­cu­tion, Governor Kay Ivey grant­ed clemen­cy for Charles​“Sonny” Burton, com­mut­ing his death sen­tence to a sen­tence of life with­out parole. In a state­ment, Gov. Ivey said,​“I can­not pro­ceed in good con­science with the exe­cu­tion of Mr. Burton under such dis­parate cir­cum­stances. I believe it would be unjust for one par­tic­i­pant in this crime to be exe­cut­ed while the par­tic­i­pant who pulled the trigger…

Feb 02, 2026

Victim’s Daughter and Former Juror Oppose Execution of Alabama Man Who Officials Acknowledges Did Not Pull the Trigger

Two women inti­mate­ly con­nect­ed to a 1991 mur­der case in Alabama have pub­licly opposed the intend­ed exe­cu­tion of Charles​“Sonny” Burton, a man both the state and his attor­neys acknowl­edge did not fire the fatal shot. Priscilla Townsend, who served on the jury that sen­tenced Mr. Burton to death, and Tori Battle, whose father Doug Battle was killed dur­ing the rob­bery in ques­tion, have each writ­ten op-eds urg­ing Governor Kay Ivey to grant clemen­cy. On January 22, 2026, the…

Religion

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Victims' Families

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Sep 22, 2025

Victims’ Families in Kirk and Berry Cases Cite Religious Reasons for Opposition to the Death Penalty

Murder vic­tims’ fam­i­ly mem­bers hold a wide range of views about what jus­tice means. For some, the death penal­ty holds the promise of clo­sure, while for oth­ers, it is a source of con­tin­ued trau­ma and uncer­tain­ty. In two recent cas­es, vic­tims’ fam­i­ly mem­bers have pub­licly expressed their oppo­si­tion to the death penal­ty, cit­ing their reli­gious views and need to for­give. Will Berry was just 11 years old when Geoffrey West shot and killed his moth­er, Margaret Parrish…

Jul 31, 2025

Alabama Circuit Court Judge Stays Execution Because of Concerns with Prisoner’s Mental Competency

In a July 10, 2025, order, Marion County Alabama Circuit Court Judge Talmage Lee Carter issued a tem­po­rary stay of exe­cu­tion for David Lee Roberts because of con­cerns regard­ing his men­tal com­pe­ten­cy. Mr. Roberts was sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on August 21. Judge Carter’s order tasked the Alabama Department of Mental Health with deter­min­ing whether Mr. Roberts has a​“ratio­nal under­stand­ing” about why the state will exe­cute him. In his order, Judge Carter wrote, “\[t\]he issue…

Mar 03, 2025

Alabama Governor Grants Clemency to Robin ​‘Rocky’ Myers, Sparing Him from Execution

On February 28, 2025, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey com­mut­ed the death sen­tence of Robin​‘Rocky’ Dion Myers to Life Without Parole (LWOP). Myers was con­vict­ed in the 1991 mur­der of Ludie Mae Tucker in Decatur, Alabama. His jury rec­om­mend­ed that he be sen­tenced to LWOP, but the judge in his case over­rode the jury’s rec­om­men­da­tion and hand­ed down a death sen­tence. The prac­tice of judi­cial over­ride was abol­ished in Alabama in 2017. In her state­ment, Gov. Ivey repeated her…

Executions

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Nov 13, 2023

Alabama Schedules A Second Execution for Kenneth Smith, Using Nitrogen Gas for the First Time in U.S. History

On November 8, 2023, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey sched­uled an exe­cu­tion date for Kenneth Smith, mark­ing the first attempt by a U.S. state to use nitro­gen gas in an exe­cu­tion. Mr. Smith was con­vict­ed of the 1988 mur­der-for-hire death of Elizabeth Sennett in Jefferson County, Alabama and has been on death row for near­ly 34 years. Following the state Supreme Court’s 6 – 2 deci­sion green­light­ing Attorney General Steve Marshall’s request for an exe­cu­tion war­rant, Gov. Ivey set a…

Research

Religion

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Botched Executions

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Feb 13, 2023

Local Church Leaders Across Alabama Speak Out About State’s Death Penalty Process

In a let­ter to Governor Kay Ivey (pic­tured) of Alabama, over 170 local faith lead­ers from many denom­i­na­tions and tra­di­tions across the state asked her to com­mit to a​“com­pre­hen­sive, inde­pen­dent, and exter­nal review of Alabama’s death penal­ty pro­ce­dures” in the wake of a series of botched exe­cu­tions. The church rep­re­sen­ta­tives thanked the gov­er­nor for paus­ing exe­cu­tions but urged her to ensure trans­paren­cy and inde­pen­dence in review­ing how Alabama performs…

Issues

Botched Executions

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Jan 25, 2023

Alabama Court Removes Key Appeal Protection for Death Sentenced Defendants

The Alabama Supreme Court announced a change to its rules of appel­late pro­ce­dure on January 12, 2023, elim­i­nat­ing auto­mat­ic plain error review for tri­al errors in death penal­ty cas­es. This new rule removes a sig­nif­i­cant safe­guard for cap­i­tal defen­dants’ rights, which had been in place since Alabama rein­stat­ed the death penal­ty in 1976. Without the review, cap­i­tal defen­dants who were erro­neous­ly con­vict­ed or sen­tenced could spend many more years on death row before…

Executions

Botched Executions

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Dec 15, 2022

Alabama Governor Asks State Supreme Court for More Time to Carry Out Executions

As part of her response to a series of botched exe­cu­tions, **Alabama Governor Kay Ivey** has sent a let­ter to the **Alabama Supreme Court** ask­ing it to allow the Department of Corrections to extend the time with­in which exe­cu­tions can be car­ried out. Governor Ivey’s let­ter fol­lows her November announce­ment of a​“top-to-bot­­tom review” of the state’s exe­cu­tion pro­ce­dures. The let­ter offered no expla­na­tion of the exe­cu­tion teams’ length delays in plac­ing IV lines, nor has…

Executions

Botched Executions

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Dec 09, 2022

Alabama Attorney General: ​“There Is No Moratorium” On the Death Penalty

During a December 5, 2022 press con­fer­ence, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall (pic­tured) dis­cussed the state’s review of its lethal injec­tion process, reject­ing the media’s char­ac­ter­i­za­tion of it as a​“mora­to­ri­um” on exe­cu­tions and urg­ing that the review be car­ried out quick­ly. Governor Kay Ivey announced a​“top-to-bot­­tom review” of the state’s exe­cu­tion pro­to­col on November 21, 2022, after two exe­cu­tions in a two-month peri­od had to be called off when…

Executions

Botched Executions

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Nov 23, 2022

Alabama Governor Halts Executions After Latest in Series of Execution Failures

**Alabama Governor Kay Ivey** (pic­tured) has halt­ed exe­cu­tions and ordered a​“top-to-bot­­tom review” of the state’s exe­cu­tion pro­ce­dures, five days after fail­ures by cor­rec­tions per­son­nel to estab­lish an intra­venous exe­cu­tion line caused Alabama to call off the November 17, 2022 exe­cu­tion of **Kenneth Smith**. The botched exe­cu­tion of Smith marked the third time since 2018 and the sec­ond time in two months that Alabama had called off an exe­cu­tion in process. In…