The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today welcomed a decision by Alabama Governor Kay Ivey to commute the death sentence for Charles ‘Sonny’ Burton, a Muslim incarceree who was scheduled to be executed this month during the last 10 days of Ramadan for a crime he did not commit.
On Tuesday, Gov. Ivey removed Charles Burton from death row. Mr. Burton had been on death row for more than 30 years for his role in a 1991 robbery at an auto parts store where a customer, Doug Battle, was killed during the crime. He and his accomplice, Derrick DeBruce, along with four other men, took part in the robbery, but it was DeBruce who shot and killed Battle. Burton was outside the store when the killing occurred. DeBruce, now deceased, had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment while Burton remained on death row.
SEE: Gov. Ivey commutes Charles ‘Sonny’ Burton’s death sentence
In a statement, CAIR Alabama Staff Attorney Britton O’Shields said:
“We thank Governor Ivey for sparing Mr. Burton’s life and preventing a grave injustice from being committed. Mr. Burton did not commit the crime for which he was sentenced to death while the man who did didn’t receive the death penalty. He changed his life and became a faith leader, a mentor and an example of redemption to other inmates. Taking his life would be unconscionable.”
She noted that CAIR previously called for Mr. Burton’s sentence to be commuted.
CAIR-Alabama Backs Calls for Gov. Ivey to Spare Charles Burton from Execution
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com