Current:Home > MarketsActivists rally for bill that would allow some Alabama death row inmates to be resentenced-LoTradeCoin
Activists rally for bill that would allow some Alabama death row inmates to be resentenced
View Date:2024-12-23 19:06:44
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Jurors in 1994 recommended by a 9-3 vote that Rocky Myers be spared the death penalty and serve life in prison. A judge sentenced him to die anyway.
Myers is now one of nearly three dozen inmates on Alabama’s death row who were placed there under a now-abolished system that allowed judges to override a jury’s recommendation in death penalty cases.
Activists held a rally Thursday outside the Alabama Statehouse urging lawmakers to make the judicial override ban retroactive and allow those inmates an opportunity to be resentenced.
“Justice demands us to afford those individuals who are still on death row by judicial override the opportunity to be resentenced,” Rep. Chris England, the bill sponsor, said.
Alabama in 2017 became the last state to abandon the practice of allowing judges to override a jury’s sentence recommendation in death penalty cases. The change was not retroactive. Alison Mollman, senior legal counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, said there are 33 people on Alabama’s death row who were sentenced to death by a judge even though a jury had recommended life imprisonment.
The bill is before the House Judiciary Committee. It has yet to receive a vote with 13 meeting days remaining in the legislative session.
A telephone message to a victims’ advocacy group left late Thursday afternoon about the bill was not immediately returned.
Alabama this year became the first state to carry out an execution with nitrogen gas when it executed Kenneth Smith. Smith was one of two men convicted and sentenced to die in the 1988 murder-for-hire slaying of Elizabeth Sennett.
Smith’s initial 1989 conviction, where a jury had recommended a death sentence, was overturned on appeal. He was retried and convicted again in 1996. The jury that time recommended a life sentence by a vote of 11-1, but a judge overrode the recommendation and sentenced Smith to death.
“Eleven people on his jury said he should still be here today. Eleven. One judge was all it took to override that decision,” Smith’s wife, Deanna Smith, said.
After the rally Thursday, supporters carried a petition to Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey’s office asking her to grant clemency to Myers.
Myers was convicted in the 1991 stabbing death of his neighbor Ludie Mae Tucker. Mae Puckett, a juror at Myers’ trial, told a legislative committee last year that she and several other jurors had doubts about his guilt but feared if the case ended in a mistrial, another jury would sentence Myers to death. Puckett said she learned later that the judge had overridden their recommendation.
“I never for a minute thought he was guilty,” Puckett said last year.
Before she died, Tucker identified her attacker as a short, stocky Black man. LeAndrew Hood, the son of Myers, said they knew Tucker and would buy ice from her. Hood said he was always struck by the fact that Tucker gave a description instead of saying she was attacked by her neighbor.
“She knew us. ... If she had enough strength to say it was a short, stocky Black man, why didn’t she just say it was the man across the street?” Hood said.
veryGood! (72)
Related
- Tesla issues 6th Cybertruck recall this year, with over 2,400 vehicles affected
- How Earth's Temporary 2nd Moon Will Impact Zodiac Signs
- Carvana stock price is up 228%, but a red flag just emerged
- Michael Jordan’s 23XI and a 2nd team sue NASCAR over revenue sharing model
- John Robinson, former USC Trojans and Los Angeles Rams coach, dies at 89
- FBI will pay $22.6 million to settle female trainees' sex bias claims
- Davante Adams landing spots: Best fits for WR if Raiders trade him
- 11 workers at a Tennessee factory were swept away in Hurricane Helene flooding. Only 5 were rescued
- Florida Man Arrested for Cold Case Double Murder Almost 50 Years Later
- 'Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' Season 2 finale: Release date, time, cast, where to watch
Ranking
- The Surreal Life’s Kim Zolciak Fuels Dating Rumors With Costar Chet Hanks After Kroy Biermann Split
- Caitlin O'Connor and Joe Manganiello’s Relationship Started With a Winning Meet Cute
- Mega Millions winning numbers for October 1 drawing: Jackpot at $93 million
- Daniel Day-Lewis Returning to Hollywood After 7-Year Break From Acting
- Nevada trial set for ‘Dances with Wolves’ actor in newly-revived sex abuse case
- Maryland governor aims to cut number of vacant properties in Baltimore by 5,000
- Woman associated with MS-13 is sentenced to 50 years in prison
- Crumbl Fans Outraged After Being Duped Into Buying Cookies That Were Secretly Imported
Recommendation
-
32 things we learned in NFL Week 10: Who will challenge for NFC throne?
-
Video of fatal shooting of Kentucky judge by accused county sheriff shown in court
-
Condoms aren’t a fact of life for young Americans. They’re an afterthought
-
Conyers BioLab fire in Georgia: Video shows status of cleanup, officials share update
-
Kyle Richards Shares an Amazing Bottega Dupe From Amazon Along With Her Favorite Fall Trends
-
Woody Allen and His Wife Soon-Yi Previn Make Rare Public Appearance Together in NYC
-
Sabrina Carpenter Shares Her Family's Reaction to Her NSFW Performances
-
Firefighters stop blaze at western Wisconsin recycling facility after more than 20 hours