Alabama Governor Commutes Death Sentence Amid Evidence Doubts

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, commuted the death sentence of a death row inmate Tuesday after Jefferson County’s current district attorney, along with several former judges and prosecutors, questioned the strength of his conviction.

Ivey reduced Toforest Johnson’s punishment to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Johnson, who has consistently maintained that he is innocent, was convicted in the 1995 killing of Jefferson County Deputy Sheriff William Hardy. He is incarcerated at Holman Correctional Facility.

“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.”

Since taking office in 2017, Ivey has commuted the death sentences of three Alabama inmates and presided over 27 executions. Her tenure as governor will end in January because she is barred by term limits from seeking re-election.

The governor granted clemency despite a plea from Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who urged her last week to reject Johnson’s request and “respect the jury’s decision” as well as rulings from the courts that reviewed the case.

Hardy was shot twice in the head on July 19, 1995, while working an off-duty security job outside a Birmingham hotel. Johnson has said he was across the city when the shooting occurred.

Ty Alper, one of Johnson’s attorneys, said he and his client appreciate Ivey’s “diligently reviewing Toforest’s case and taking action to spare an innocent man from execution.” He added, however, that the legal team will continue pursuing efforts to overturn the conviction.

“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 in a statement.

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Johnson’s attorneys have spent years seeking a new trial. The case has drawn national attention and broad support, including from the original prosecutor, prominent attorneys and celebrities such as Kim Kardashian.

A number of former judges and prosecutors have also joined the campaign for a new trial, citing concerns about the conviction. Former Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley, former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justices Sonny Hornsby and Drayton Nabers, along with other former judges and prosecutors, have filed briefs or published editorials supporting Johnson’s request.

Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr, elected in 2018, is among those backing Johnson’s bid for a new trial. In a 2024 court filing, Carr wrote that “the evidence in this case has unraveled over 20 years.”

Carr said credible alibi witnesses placed Johnson elsewhere when the shooting occurred. He also cited several reasons to question the prosecution’s central witness, who “claimed she overheard Johnson confess to the murder on a three-way phone call on which she was eavesdropping.”

During Johnson’s 1998 trial, the woman testified that she had been listening in on a phone call when she heard a man she believed to be Johnson admit to the shooting.

In 2001, she received a $5,000 reward for her assistance in the investigation.

Johnson’s attorneys have argued that prosecutors withheld evidence showing she had a financial incentive to provide testimony.