Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, set a primary for her time period by commuting the loss of life sentence of Robin “Rocky” Myers, 63, to considered one of life in jail with out the opportunity of parole.
Ms. Ivey had reached out to the workplace of Alabama Lawyer Basic Steve Marshall for data on Thursday after which determined to commute Myers’ sentence for capital homicide lower than 24 hours later.
On Oct. 4, 1991, Myers was let into the Decatur, Alabama, home of sufferer Ludie Mae Tucker, 69 on the time, after claiming he had been in a automotive wreck and wanted to name his household. The person proceeded to stab Tucker and a visitor in her home, Marie Dutton, earlier than fleeing along with her videocassette recorder with a view to promote it for crack cocaine, Mr. Marshall wrote in a letter to Ms. Ivey.
In an announcement to a number of shops together with WSFA-TV, Ms. Ivey, who has presided over 22 prior executions, defined that she was not sure sufficient of Myers’ guilt to sentence him to loss of life.
“For instance, no homicide weapon was discovered, and no DNA proof or fingerprints or different bodily proof tied Mr. Myers to the scene of the crime. Though Ms. Tucker knew Mr. Myers and let her attacker inside the home, neither she nor Marie Dutton — the one two eyewitnesses to the crime — ever recognized Mr. Myers because the assailant,” the governor stated.
Tucker, who lived close to Myers, stated on the hospital earlier than dying that she had been attacked by a “brief and stocky” Black man.
Myers was in the end convicted of homicide in the course of the course of a theft and in the course of the course of a housebreaking in 1994, and sentenced to loss of life.
The opposite circumstantial proof used to tie Myers to Tucker’s loss of life, Ms. Ivey stated, was riddled with too many conflicting claims from completely different events.
“This determination has been some of the troublesome selections I’ve needed to make as governor. But it surely pales compared to the ache and struggling Ludie Mae Tucker and Marie Dutton endured on the evening of October 4, 1991 – and to the numerous hardships the Tucker household has endured by the hands of our imperfect justice system,” Ms. Ivey added.
For his half, Mr. Marshall, who alongside together with his predecessors had defended the loss of life sentence for Myers over the course of greater than 30 years, was stunned.
“I’m astonished by Governor Ivey’s determination to commute the loss of life sentence of Rocky Myers and am bewildered that she selected to not straight talk with me about this case or her determination. … My capital litigation and victims’ providers groups will go dwelling tonight deeply saddened, not for themselves, however for the household of Ludie Mae Tucker. We’ll by no means cease preventing for justice,” he wrote in a launch Friday.
Myers’ authorized illustration, alternatively, cheered the choice.
“I’m unsure there are phrases sufficient to convey my pleasure, aid, and gratitude at studying of Gov. Ivey’s determination to commute Mr. Myers’ sentence,” lawyer Kacey Keeton advised The Related Press.
The commutation, Ms. Ivey’s first since taking workplace in 2017, was additionally the primary loss of life sentence to be commuted to life in jail in Alabama since 1999.
