FINAL PLEA: Even the Victim's Daughter Wants to Stop This Alabama Execution!

The state of Alabama is scheduled to carry out the execution of a 75-year-old death row inmate this week in a case that has drawn renewed attention to the use of the felony-murder rule in capital punishment cases.

Charles “Sonny” Burton has spent more than three decades on death row at Holman Correctional Facility following his conviction for murder in connection with a 1991 robbery at an AutoZone store in Talladega.

Court records show that Burton and several other men took part in the robbery. Prosecutors said Burton entered the store armed and helped steal money from a safe before leaving the building. According to filings cited in the case, a different participant in the robbery fatally shot a customer after Burton had already exited the store.

Burton has acknowledged participating in the robbery but has repeatedly said he neither carried out the shooting nor expected a killing to occur. “I didn’t know a murder was going to happen,” Burton said in an interview from prison.

Prosecutors argued at trial that Burton served as the “ringleader” of the robbery — a claim he disputes. Under the felony-murder doctrine, individuals involved in certain serious crimes such as robbery can be held legally responsible for a death that occurs during the offense, even if they did not personally commit the killing.

The man identified as the shooter, James DeBruce, was initially sentenced to death but later had his sentence reduced to life in prison on procedural grounds. He died while incarcerated.

Burton’s case has drawn appeals for clemency from several sources, including five jurors from the original trial and a daughter of the victim, who have asked Governor Kay Ivey to commute his sentence.

Supporters argue the case raises broader questions about how the felony-murder rule is applied in capital cases. Prosecutors and state officials maintain that those who organize or participate in violent felonies can be held accountable for the consequences of those crimes under existing law.

Unless clemency is granted or a court intervenes, the execution is expected to proceed as scheduled.