The Alabama governor, Kay Ivey, on Friday commuted the loss of life sentence of Robin “Rocky” Myers to life in jail after noting questions on his case.
Ivey stated Myers, who was going through execution this spring, will as an alternative spend the remainder of his life in jail with out the potential of parole. She famous that was the sentence jurors at his 1994 trial had beneficial. A decide overruled that suggestion and imposed a loss of life sentence, a maneuver that has since been outlawed in Alabama, based on the human rights advocacy group Amnesty Worldwide.
The choice got here after ongoing questions concerning the case that included an absence of bodily proof on the crime scene tying him to the 1991 homicide of Ludie Mae Tucker in Decatur, Alabama. Myers had lengthy maintained he was harmless, and a juror at his 1994 trial supported the push for clemency.
“In brief, I’m not satisfied that Mr Myers is harmless, however I’m not so satisfied of his guilt as to approve of his execution,” Ivey stated in an announcement. “I subsequently should respect each the jury’s resolution to convict him and its suggestion that he be sentenced to life with out parole.”
Ivey, a Republican who has by no means beforehand stopped an execution, referred to as it “one of the troublesome selections I’ve needed to make as governor”.
“But it surely pales compared to the ache and struggling Ludie Mae Tucker and Marie Dutton endured on the evening of [4 October 1991] – and to the numerous hardships the Tucker household has endured by the hands of our imperfect justice system,” Ivey stated.
“I pray that the Tucker household might, in a roundabout way, discover closure and peace realizing this case is closed, and Mr Myers will spend the remainder of his life in jail.”
The Alabama supreme courtroom earlier in February licensed Myers’ execution by nitrogen hypoxia. The subsequent step was for the governor to set the execution date.
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