The governor of the US state of Alabama commuted the death sentence of a 75-year-old man days before his execution date, noting he did not pull the trigger in the shooting for which he was convicted.
Republican Governor Kay Ivey said Tuesday it would be "unjust" to execute Charles "Sonny" Burton, who has spent more than three decades on death row, as he was outside the building when his accomplice shot dead a man during a robbery.
Burton was one of six men involved in the 1991 store robbery in Talladega, Alabama in which a customer, Doug Battle, was killed.
The investigation found Burton did not pull the trigger that fired the fatal shot, but he was convicted of capital felony murder as an accomplice and sentenced to death in 1992.
The gunman Derrick DeBruce was also sentenced to death, but his sentence was reduced to life without parole. He later died in prison.
Ivey commuted Burton's death sentence to life in prison without parole, just two days before his scheduled execution by nitrogen gas on Thursday.
"Charles Burton did not shoot the victim, did not direct the triggerman to shoot the victim and had already left the store by the time the shooting occurred," Ivey said in a statement.
"I cannot proceed in good conscience with the execution of Mr. Burton under such disparate circumstances. I believe it would be unjust for one participant in this crime to be executed while the participant who pulled the trigger was not."
It is the second time Ivey has pardoned a death row inmate since taking office as governor in 2017.
In that time, she has presided over 25 executions.
Five US death row inmates have been executed so far this year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC).
© Agence France-Presse
