Alabama death row inmate who didn't kill anyone is spared execution

A man who was set to be executed in Alabama over a killing that he did not carry out has been spared death after the governor's intervention.

Charles "Sonny" Burton, 75, was sentenced to death for the murder of a man during a store robbery in 1991, even though he was not in the building at the time of the killing.

Burton with five other men robbed the store that day, but he had left the building when one of the other robbers shot a customer. Alabama law, like many other states, allows the execution of a co-felon, even if they themselves did not kill anyone.

The victim's daughter, who was just nine when her father was killed, was among those who pleaded for a reprieve for Burton.

"No one from the State has ever sat with me to explain why Alabama believes it must execute a man who did not kill my father," Tori Battle, whose father Doug Battle was killed in the robbery, wrote in an article published in the Montgomery Advertiser. "My love for my father does not require another death, especially one that defies reason."

According to court testimony, on 16 August, 1991, Burton, Derrick DeBruce and four other men decided to rob an AutoZone in Talladega, Alabama.

Doug Battle, a customer, entered the auto parts store as the robbery was coming to an end.

Battle reportedly got into an argument with DeBruce, who shot him in the back. Burton had already left the store when the shooting happened, a fact that prosecutors did not dispute.

DeBruce, the gunman, died in prison while serving a sentence of life without parole. He was initially sentenced to the death penalty, but it was reduced because his trial lawyers provided inadequate counsel.

Burton was scheduled to be executed on Thursday night by nitrogen gas.

After the commutation of Burton's death sentence by Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, he will now serve a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

"I cannot proceed in good conscience with the execution of Mr. Burton under such disparate circumstances," the Republican governor said in a statement. "I believe it would be unjust for one participant in this crime to be executed while the participant who pulled the trigger was not."

Governor Ivey, who has presided over 25 executions, said she firmly believed in the death penalty, but said it also must be administered fairly and proportionately.

Burton, who is in a wheelchair because of health issues, told CNN this week that he had apologised to Battle's family.

"I didn't kill no one, true enough, but I made a mistake by being part of the crime," he said.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall expressed disappointment in a statement to NBC News.

"There has never been any doubt that Sonny Burton has Douglas Battle's blood on his hands," he said.

"Burton does not deserve special treatment because he is old - he could have been executed a long time ago, but like many death-row inmates, he chose to drag out his case through endless frivolous appeals."