Alabama governor commutes Johnson’s death sentence to life imprisonment — The Guardian

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey has commuted Toforest Johnson’s death sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Johnson was sentenced to death in the case of the 1995 murder of Jefferson County deputy sheriff William Hardy. The Guardian reports on the governor’s decision.

Doubts about the evidence

Ivey said she had doubts about whether there was sufficient direct evidence to impose the harshest punishment — the death penalty. At the same time, she stressed that the decision does not mean Johnson has been recognized as innocent, but is based on the circumstances of the case.

Toforest Johnson maintains his innocence. According to the outlet, there was no physical evidence linking him to the murder, while more than 10 witnesses said he was in another part of the city at the time of the shooting. Hardy was shot twice in the head while working as a hotel security guard outside his main job.

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Fight for a new trial

Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr and the prosecutor in the original case called for the conviction to be overturned and for a new trial to be ordered. Carr said that the grounds for Johnson’s conviction had collapsed and that there were several reasons to doubt the key prosecution witness.

During the 1998 trial, the witness said that while eavesdropping on a telephone conversation, she heard a man whom she believed to be Johnson confess to the crime. In 2001, she received $5,000 for her testimony. Johnson’s lawyers say that the state withheld information about the witness’s possible financial interest. Defense attorney Ty Alper said he would seek to have the conviction overturned through the courts.