Gov. Kay Ivey last week commuted death row inmate Toforest Johnson. Ivey’s move comes after several public officials raised concerns about Johnson’s conviction. 

Ivey commuted Johnson’s sentence from the death penalty to life in prison without parole.

Johnson was convicted of the 1995 murder of Jefferson County Deputy Sheriff William Hardy. Hardy was shot in the head twice while off-duty and working as a security guard at a hotel outside of Birmingham.

Johnson has maintained his innocence, with his attorneys appealing for a new trial multiple times. His case has also garnered the attention of former Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley and former Chief Justices Sonny Hornsby and Drayton Nabers, as well as current Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr, who have all cast doubts on Johnson’s conviction.

Carr argues that credible alibi witnesses have all placed Johnson as on the other side of town when Hardy was murdered. 

Additionally, one key witness in Johnson’s 1998 trial, admitted in 2001 that she was paid $5,000 for her testimony. The witness testified that, while eavesdropping on a phone call, overheard a man she believed to be Johnson admitting to the crime. Johnson’s lawyers say the state withheld evidence that the witness was paid to testify.

The 1998 trial when Johnson was convicted was Johnson’s second time being tried for the murder. His first trial, in 1997, ended in a hung jury. Ardragus Ford, a co-defendant in the case, was acquitted of all charges.

“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.”

Ty Alper, one of Johnson’s attorneys, said, in light of the commutation, Johnson’s attorney will continue to fight 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.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall lobbied Ivey to reject Johnson’s clemency request in an Oct. 16 letter, asking the governor to “respect the jury’s decision” in the case.

Johnson’s sentence is the third sentence that Ivey has commuted in her nine years in office. She has presided over 27 executions.

Alabama top stories in brief

Lowndes County residents sue county over Project Red Clay

• Two Lowndes County residents are suing the county government over tax breaks the county commission approved last week for Project Red Clay, the largest hyperscale data center development currently underway in the state.
• In their lawsuit, the residents — who live adjacent to the development site — allege that county commissioners did not provide enough notice about the meeting where they approved $1.1 billion in tax abatements for Cloverleaf Infrastructure, the company developing the data center.
• Commissioners voted 3-2 in favor of the tax abatements at a 10-minute-long meeting on Oct. 13 with no public comment period. The vote was not included on the agenda for that meeting.

Study finds Gulf marine life dramatically declined after 2010 oil spill

• A new study has found that, in the wake of BP’s 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, marine life in a key Gulf of Mexico ecosystem decreased by about 60%. The study also found there has been little population recovery in marine life since the spill.
• The study, published by the journal PNAS, focused on the mesopelagic zone — also called the twilight zone — of the Gulf. The mesopelagic zone is an area between the seafloor and the upper parts of the body of water. Many animals that live in the upper parts of the Gulf, like dolphins, go to the mesopelagic zone to feed.
• The study found between 2011 and 2015:
  • the number of fish found dropped by 63.5%.
  • the number of crustaceans dropped by 62%.
  • the of larger animals, like squid and octopuses, dropped by 59.7%.
• The 2010 oil spill occurred when a BP-operated well failed, dumping 134 million gallons of oil into the Gulf. 

ALGOP running AI attack ads on Facebook under Doug Jones name

• Reporting from Al.com last week found that the Alabama Republican Party is paying to run AI-generated ads on a Facebook account, “Meet Doug Jones.”
• From Oct. 3 through Oct. 18, the party created 77 advertisements through the page. As of last week, 72 of those ads were still active.
• The AI-generated ads often feature false or misleading information about Jones and his campaign — depicting him endorsing Marxist beliefs or alongside other politicians he has not campaigned with.
• Jones, last week, said the ads are spreading “just outright lies” and are “really kind of pathetic on the part of the Alabama Republican Party.”
• The chair of the Alabama Republican Party, Scott Stadthagen, defended the decision to run ads under a page bearing Jones’s name in an interview with Al.com, saying, “Supporting Republican nominees is the core mission of the Alabama Republican Party, and we make no apologies for it.” 

Sewell demands for Hale County post office to reopen before midterms

• U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-AL, is demanding the U.S. Postal Service immediately reopen a Hale County post office after the office abruptly closed earlier this month.
• The Akron Post Office was set to close on Oct. 30. However, it closed on Oct. 14, leaving residents with P.O. boxes at the office with little instruction on how to access their boxes. 
• In a letter to U.S. Postmaster General David Steiner and Postal Service Senior Vice President of Facilities and Infrastructure Benjamin Kuo, Sewell expresses concerns that the abrupt closure could interfere with residents’ plans to vote via absentee ballot in the upcoming midterm election.
• “By shuttering the Post Office without warning, USPS has jeopardized residents’ ability to receive and return their absentee ballots in time to be counted,” Sewell wrote. 
• In her letter, Sewell asks for USPS to immediately reopen the Akron Post Office and explain why the office closed early.
• USPS has cited failed lease negotiations as the reason the office was set to close, but has not explained why they closed the office earlier than their scheduled closing date.

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• Fall is in full swing and so is fall bird migration. Check out this guide to what birds you can expect to pass through Alabama this winter and how you can get in on the birdwatching fun.

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