Alabama governor grants clemency to death row inmate who was accomplice to murder, sparing him from execution this week | CNN

The governor of Alabama has granted clemency to a man on death row for three decades, a rare move that spares the accomplice in a 1991 murder from execution on Thursday. Gov. Kay Ivey, in announcing her commutation of Charles Burton’s death sentence, said she could not “proceed in good conscience” with the execution because he was not the shooter. She said his sentence will now be life in prison without parole. “I believe it would be unjust for one participant in this crime to be executed while the participant who pulled the trigger was not,” Ivey said in a statement on Tuesday. “He will now receive the same punishment as the triggerman.” After hearing of Ivey’s decision, Burton said in a statement through his lawyer: “Just saying thank you doesn’t seem like much. But it’s what I can give her. And I do thank her. Thank you, Governor.” Lois Harris, Burton’s daughter, told CNN she feels like a weight was lifted off her shoulders. “I’m thankful. I’m glad she made that decision because it was the right decision,” she said of Ivey, through tears. During a recent phone call with Burton before the governor’s decision, topics of conversation were light: