At 75 years old and wheelchair-bound after more than three decades on death row, Charles “Sonny” Burton is scheduled to be executed on March 12, 2026, for his role in a 1991 robbery in Alabama that turned fatal.
According to materials published on the Charles Sonny Burton website, Burton has spent 30 years on Alabama’s death row for a murder he did not plan, order or commit.
Burton is a Black man convicted in connection with the 1991 robbery of an AutoZone store in Talladega, Alabama. During the robbery, Derrick DeBruce, Burton’s co-defendant, shot and killed the victim, Douglas Battle.
The state of Alabama has acknowledged that Burton did not fire the fatal shot, with DeBruce making the decision to shoot the victim on his own. The Charles Sonny Burton website highlights that Burton was not present in the store when the shooting took place.
During the initial sentencing, both Burton and DeBruce were sentenced to death. However, following an appeal, DeBruce’s conviction was overturned and the state resentenced him to life without parole. DeBruce died in 2020 while serving his sentence. Burton’s death sentence, however, remains in effect.
The Charles Sonny Burton website underscores that as individuals continue to petition Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey to grant clemency in Burton’s case, many argue that his sentencing raises proportionality concerns, reflecting a larger pattern in the nation’s death penalty system.
Twenty-seven U.S. states, including Alabama, allow for the execution of “non-triggermen,” or those who participate in a felony that led to an individual’s death but did not carry out the killing themselves, the website explains.
According to reports from the ACLU and the Death Penalty Information Center, Black defendants make up a disproportionate share of people on death row compared with their share of the national population. Black non-shooters are more likely to receive death sentences than non-Black defendants, as clemency and sentencing relief often favor white defendants.
Former capital defense lawyer and prosecutor G. Ben Cohen, an associate professor of law at the University of Akron, said Burton’s case “is a stark example of how racial disparity can shape outcomes in capital punishment,” noting that it “raises fundamental questions about who is seen as worthy of compassion and who is left behind by our justice system.”
Cohen further emphasized the disproportionality of the case, stating that “as someone who has spent decades focused on unequal and arbitrary capital sentencing, it is deeply troubling that Mr. Burton, a non-shooter, faces execution while others in similar circumstances have received mercy.”
The Charles “Sonny” Burton webpage notes that Burton’s health has significantly declined during his more than three decades on death row, leaving him wheelchair-bound as his execution date approaches. Advocates are asking for Burton’s sentence to be commuted to life without parole.
The daughter of the victim, Douglas Battle, along with six of the eight living jurors, have publicly expressed support for clemency for Charles “Sonny” Burton. The final decision now rests with Gov. Ivey, whose clemency authority will determine whether Burton’s sentence is commuted or carried out.
With Burton’s execution scheduled for March 12, 2026, his case continues to serve as a focal point in broader debates regarding proportional punishment, racial disparities within the American death penalty system and felony-murder liability.
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