Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Tuesday commuted the death sentence of a death-row prisoner whose conviction has come under scrutiny from former public officials and Jefferson County’s current district attorney.
Ivey, a Republican, reduced Toforest Johnson’s sentence to life in prison without parole. Johnson was convicted in the 1995 killing of Jefferson County Deputy Sheriff William Hardy, but he has consistently maintained that he is innocent.
“When presented with Mr. Johnson’s case, I had concerns there was not enough direct evidence to carry out the most serious punishment, death,” Ivey said in a statement. “My decision is not a determination of innocence, but a recognition that the circumstances of this case justify commuting his death sentence to life imprisonment, without possibility of parole.”
During her tenure as governor, Ivey has overseen 27 executions and commuted the death sentences of three other death-row inmates.
Hardy was working off-duty security at a hotel when he was shot twice in the head. Johnson has said he was across town when the shooting occurred.
Ty Alper, one of Johnson’s attorneys, thanked Ivey for “diligently reviewing Toforest’s case and taking action to spare an innocent man from execution.” He said the legal effort to overturn Johnson’s conviction would continue.
“Toforest Johnson is innocent. Now it is up to the courts to overturn his conviction and grant him a new trial. We will keep fighting until he is home with his family,” Alper said.
The case has prompted a yearslong push for a new trial, attracting national attention and becoming the subject of a podcast. Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr, who took office after being elected in 2018, has backed Johnson’s request. In a 2024 court filing, Carr wrote that the “evidence in this case has unraveled over 20 years.”
Carr said in 2024 that reliable alibi witnesses placed Johnson somewhere else when the crime occurred. He also cited several reasons to question the prosecution’s central witness, a woman who “claimed she overheard Johnson confess to the murder on a three-way phone call on which she was eavesdropping.”
At Johnson’s 1998 trial, the witness testified that she overheard a phone conversation and heard a man she believed to be Johnson acknowledge the killing. She received $5,000 for her testimony in 2001. Johnson’s attorneys contend prosecutors failed to disclose evidence that could have revealed a financial motive behind her statements.
Questions surrounding the conviction have drawn support from a group of former Alabama judges and prosecutors seeking a new trial. Former Attorney General Bill Baxley, former Chief Justices Sonny Hornsby and Drayton Nabers, along with several other former judges and prosecutors, have filed briefs or published editorials supporting Johnson’s bid.
In an Oct. 16 letter, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall urged Ivey to deny the clemency request, saying she should “respect the jury’s decision” as well as rulings from the courts that reviewed the case.