by Matt Agorist, The Free Thought Project:
(So Informed) Sonny has spent more than 30 years on Alabama’s death row for a killing that the state agrees he neither committed nor ordered. He wasn’t even in the building when the shooting occurred. The shooter’s death sentence was overturned. Yet Sonny faces execution on March 12, 2026.
Six of the eight living jurors who sentenced Sonny to death have expressed their desire to see his death sentence overturned. The State itself has admitted it is “arguably unjust” to execute Sonny after resentencing the shooter to life without parole. The daughter of the man killed in the case for which Sonny was sentenced to death has urged Gov. Ivey to grant him clemency.
TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/
“The death penalty is supposed to be reserved for the most culpable offenders—the ‘worst of the worst.’ But the State of Alabama is planning to execute Charles “Sonny” Burton, who never killed anyone, after it agreed to a life-without-parole sentence for the person who actually shot and killed the victim.” — EJI
1991:
Sonny Burton was one of six men involved in the 1991 robbery of an auto parts store in Talladega, Alabama.
It is undisputed that, after Sonny exited the store, a man named Derrick DeBruce shot and killed a customer named Doug Battle.
All six men were charged with capital murder, but the State reached agreements with four of the men and allowed them to avoid the death penalty.
Derrick DeBruce was sentenced to death, but in 2014, a federal court overturned his death sentence because his constitutional rights were violated at trial. The State agreed that he should be resentenced to life without parole.
Sonny is now the only one facing execution.
Six of the eight living jurors who voted to sentence Sonny to death in 1992 have no opposition to his sentence being commuted to life without parole, according to the clemency petition submitted to the Governor.
Juror James Cottongim wrote to the governor saying that, while this was a terrible crime, it would be “very unjust” for Sonny to be the one executed for it.
Sonny:
In 1972, Sonny began a spiritual journey that would define the rest of his life. He converted to Islam and has remained a devout, practicing Muslim for over 50 years. His faith is not merely a private comfort; it is the lens through which he views the world.
Throughout his time in the Alabama Department of Corrections, Sonny has become a man of peace and mentorship. He is committed to guiding those he connects with, using his own lived experience to help younger men stay off the path he once walked. His advocacy for religious equality, including his fight to have an Imam present for spiritual comfort, has made him a voice for human dignity within the prison walls.
Read More @ TheFreeThoughtProject.com
