MONTGOMERY, AL – Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey Friday commuted the death sentence of Robin “Rocky” Myers, changing his punishment to life in prison without the possibility of parole, after concerns over unresolved questions regarding his conviction in the 1991 murder of Ludie Mae Tucker, according to the Associated Press.
The AP wrote Myers was convicted of capital murder in 1994 for the fatal stabbing of Tucker at her home in Decatur. At the time, a jury voted 9-3 to recommend life in prison, but the judge overruled this decision and sentenced him to death under Alabama’s now-abolished judicial override system.
Governor Ivey stated to AP she could not approve the execution because of doubts about Myers’ guilt, noting, “I have enough questions about Mr. Myers’ guilt that I cannot move forward with executing him. I am not convinced that Mr. Myers is innocent, but I am not so convinced of his guilt as to approve of his execution.”
Myers, who has maintained his innocence, was convicted by a nearly all-white jury. No physical evidence linked him to the crime, the Associated Press wrote, and a juror from his 1994 trial later supported his clemency request.
Ivey said there was “circumstantial evidence” against Myers, but it is “riddled with conflicting evidence from seemingly everyone involved,” reported AP, adding, according to court records, much of the state’s case centered on a VCR taken from Tucker’s home and whether Myers was the individual who attempted to sell it at a drug house.
The Associated Press quoted juror Mae Puckett, who now believes Myers is innocent and had urged Ivey to intervene, stating, “Gov. Ivey, put it back into the jury’s hands.”
Attorney Kacey Keeton, who has represented Myers since 2007, said to AP there were multiple failures in Myers’ case, including how an earlier attorney abandoned his case, causing him to miss a deadline to raise issues in federal court.
The Associated Press noted his attorney had argued there were multiple questions surrounding Myers’ case, including Tucker, before she died, identifying her assailant as a short, stocky Black man but did not name Myers or a neighbor as the attacker even though they had met several times, according to Myers’ son.
Keeton continued “As evidence accumulated of his innocence and the many injustices he experienced over the course of his case, I held out hope that he would someday see some measure of justice, of mercy, of humanity,” reported AP.
The Associated Press quoted Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who had requested an execution date for Myers using nitrogen gas.
“I am astonished by Gov. Ivey’s decision to commute the death sentence of Rocky Myers and am bewildered that she chose not to directly communicate with me about this case or her decision,” Marshall said, adding his office was “deeply saddened, not for themselves, but for the family of Ludie Mae Tucker,” AP wrote.
This is the first time an Alabama governor has commuted a death sentence since 1999, added AP, noting Ivey, who has presided over more than 20 executions since taking office in 2017, called it “one of the most difficult decisions I’ve had to make as governor.”
