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MONTGOMERY, Ala. — <\/span>Charles \u201cSonny\u201d Burton didn\u2019t kill anyone. The state of Alabama could execute him anyway.<\/p>\n Burton, 75, is facing execution for his role as an accomplice in a 1991 robbery at an auto parts store where customer Doug Battle was killed. No one disputes that another man, Derrick DeBruce, shot and killed Battle. Burton, one of six men involved in the robbery, was outside the store at the time of the shooting, according to testimony. <\/p>\n DeBruce and Burton were both sentenced to death. But DeBruce was later resentenced to life imprisonment<\/a>, leaving Burton \u2014 who neither fired the gun nor ordered anyone to be killed — as the only person facing execution.<\/p>\n Matt Schulz, Burton\u2019s attorney, said the case \u201crepresents an extreme outlier\u201d among death penalty cases.<\/p>\n The Alabama Supreme Court in January authorized Gov. Kay Ivey to set an execution date for Burton using nitrogen gas. The victim\u2019s daughter and multiple jurors from his 1992 trial are now urging the governor to grant clemency, arguing the case raises fundamental questions of fairness. <\/p>\n \u201cWe hope and pray that Governor Ivey recognizes that this case slipped through the cracks. It would be wrong to execute a man who did not even see the shooting take place, after the state agreed to resentence the shooter to life without parole, and this is simply not the kind of case most people think of when they envision the death penalty being carried out,\u201d Schulz said. <\/p>\n The shooting occurred Aug. 16, 1991, during a robbery at an AutoZone in Talladega.<\/p>\n Before they went inside, Burton, who was 40, said if anyone caused trouble in the store that he would \u201ctake care of it,\u201d according to testimony.<\/p>\n DeBruce yelled for everyone to get down. Burton, also armed with a gun, forced the manager to the back to open the safe.<\/p>\n As the robbery ended, Battle, a 34-year-old Army veteran and father of four, entered the store. He threw his wallet down, got onto the floor and exchanged words with DeBruce. LaJuan McCants, who was 16 at the time, testified that Burton and others had left the store when DeBruce shot Battle in the back. <\/p>\n Afterward, Burton asked DeBruce in the getaway car why he had shot the man, McCants testified.<\/p>\n During closing arguments, a prosecutor argued Burton was \u201cjust as guilty as Derrick DeBruce, because he\u2019s there to aid and assist him.\u201d Prosecutors pointed to the statement about handling trouble as evidence that Burton was the robbery leader. <\/p>\n But Burton\u2019s attorneys said there is only evidence that Burton intended to participate in a robbery, not to harm anyone. <\/p>\n The victim\u2019s daughter is among those urging the governor to grant clemency.<\/p>\n Tori Battle, who was 9 when her father was killed, asked Ivey to \u201cconsider extending grace to Mr. Burton and granting him clemency.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy father Doug Battle was many things. He was strong, but he valued peace. He did not believe in revenge,\u201d she wrote in a letter to Ivey. The Associated Press was unable to reach her or other Battle family members for comment.<\/p>\n Six of the eight living jurors from the 1992 trial do not object to commutation, according to the clemency petition. Three are requesting it, saying they never would have recommended a death sentence if the shooter was getting a lesser sentence.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s absolutely not fair. You don\u2019t execute someone who did not pull the trigger,\u201d Priscilla Townsend, one of the jurors, said in a telephone interview. <\/p>\n Townsend said they recommended a death sentence after an extremely emotional trial. Townsend said she still believes in the death penalty \u201cfor the worst of the worst,\u201d but she said that is not Burton.<\/p>\n Attorney General Steve Marshall\u2019s office opposed the clemency request.<\/p>\n \u201cBurton was convicted of capital murder in April 1992 and that the jury unanimously recommended the death penalty. That conviction and sentence have been upheld at every level,\u201d a spokesman for the office said.<\/p>\n Most people on death row were convicted of directly killing someone, but the U.S. Supreme Court allows the execution of accomplices under certain circumstances. Robin M. Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said the group has documented at least 22 cases where the person executed par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpat\u00aded in a felony dur\u00ading which a vic\u00adtim died at the hands of anoth\u00ader par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpant.<\/p>\n The U.S. Supreme Court in 1987 allowed accomplices who didn’t pull the trigger to be sentenced to death if they displayed a \u201creckless indifference\u201d for human life. Maher said that has created \u201carbitrariness among the jurisdictions.\u201d Richard S. Jaffe, an attorney not involved with Burton\u2019s case, said Alabama law requires that prosecutors show the accomplice had a \u201cparticularized intent to kill.\u201d Burton\u2019s lawyers have argued that intent was never established. <\/p>\n Clemency grants are rare in death row cases. Ivey has granted clemency once<\/a>. However, Republican governors in several states have extended clemency for accomplices in murder cases. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt commuted a death sentence<\/a> in November.<\/p>\n Burton grew up with an alcoholic father who frequently beat him, according to sentencing documents. Despite that, he became a protector for younger members of the family, his sister Eddie Mae Ellison said. <\/p>\n Ellison said her brother \u201cis not perfect, but he is not the person depicted by prosecutors.”<\/p>\n Today, she said her brother is in a failing health. He is frail and uses a wheelchair or walker to get around outside his cell.<\/p>\n \u201cHe did not lay a hand on the man,\u201d Ellison said. \u201cWhy do you feel it is necessary to take his life?\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n