Alabama Governor Halts Execution Amid Questions Over Evidence
WHO:
Fox News - Johnson’s attorney Ty Alper said, “Toforest Johnson is innocent,” and said his legal team would keep fighting until Johnson is home with his family.
Fox News - Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall opposed clemency; Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr, former Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley, and former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justices Sonny Hornsby and Drayton Nabers supported a new trial.
Fox News - Johnson’s attorney Ty Alper said Johnson’s legal team would continue seeking to overturn his conviction.
CBS News US - Kay Ivey, governor of Alabama, and Toforest Johnson, the man convicted of a 1995 murder.
ABC News US - Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and death row inmate Toforest Johnson.
WHAT:
Fox News - Johnson was convicted in the 1995 murder of Jefferson County Deputy Sheriff William Hardy.
Fox News - Hardy was shot twice in the head while working off-duty security outside a Birmingham hotel.
NBC News - Johnson’s case was the subject of a podcast and attracted national attention.
Fox News - Ivey said her decision was “not a determination of innocence” and that the case’s circumstances justified commuting the sentence.
Fox News - Ivey has commuted three death sentences since becoming governor and has overseen 27 executions.
Fox News - Johnson’s lawyers said the state withheld evidence that the key prosecution witness received a $5,000 reward in 2001.
Fox News - Johnson’s lawyers said credible alibi witnesses placed him elsewhere at the time of the shooting; Carr said the evidence had “unraveled over 20 years.”
CBS News US - Ivey commuted Johnson’s death sentence to life in prison without parole.
ABC News US - Ivey commuted Johnson’s death sentence to life in prison without parole.
WHERE:
Fox News - Johnson is incarcerated at Holman Correctional Facility; the murder took place outside a hotel in Birmingham.
WHY:
Fox News - Ivey said she lacked enough direct evidence to impose the death penalty.
ABC News US - Ivey cited doubts about the evidence.
HOW:
CBS News US - Ivey said she was commuting Johnson’s sentence.
ABC News US - Ivey spared Johnson from execution by commuting his sentence.
(UPDATED October 21, 2026 16:11 UTC)
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey has commuted Toforest Johnson’s death sentence to life in prison without parole, sparing him from execution. Johnson was convicted of killing Jefferson County Deputy Sheriff William Hardy, who was shot twice in the head while working off-duty security outside a Birmingham hotel. Ivey said the commutation was not a determination of innocence, but that she lacked enough direct evidence to impose the death penalty and had doubts about the case. Johnson’s lawyers say the state withheld evidence that a key prosecution witness received a $5,000 reward, and that alibi witnesses placed Johnson elsewhere. Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr said the evidence had unraveled over more than two decades and supports a new trial. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall opposed clemency. Johnson’s attorney Ty Alper said his team would keep fighting to overturn the conviction and bring Johnson home to his family.
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(UPDATED October 21, 2026 07:18 UTC)
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey commuted Charles Johnson’s death sentence, saying she lacked enough direct evidence to impose the death penalty, while stressing that her decision was not a determination of innocence. Johnson’s lawyers say the state withheld evidence that a key prosecution witness received a $5,000 reward and that alibi witnesses placed Johnson elsewhere during the Birmingham shooting; Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr said the evidence had “unraveled over 20 years.” Attorney General Steve Marshall opposed clemency, while Carr and other former state legal officials supported a new trial, and Johnson’s attorney Ty Alper said the legal team would keep seeking to overturn the conviction.
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(UPDATED October 21, 2026 00:38 UTC)
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey has commuted Toforest Johnson’s death sentence to life in prison without parole, sparing him from execution. Johnson was convicted of a 1995 murder. Ivey cited doubts about the evidence in the case.