Gov. Kay Ivey commutes death sentence of Toforest Johnson
FILE – This photo provided by the Alabama Department of Corrections in September 2022 shows Toforest Johnson. (Alabama Department of Corrections via AP, File)
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WAKA) – Gov. Kay Ivey has commuted the death sentence of death-row inmate Toforest Johnson after a number of former public officials and the current district attorney raised doubts about his conviction.
Ivey said she was commuting Johnson’s death sentence to life in prison without parole.
Johnson was convicted of the 1995 murder of Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputy William Hardy. Johnson has long said he is innocent. Hardy was shot twice in the head while working off-duty security at a hotel. Johnson has maintained he was on the other side of town at the time of the shooting.
“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.”
Ivey has overseen 27 executions as governor. She has commuted the death sentences of three death-row inmates. Prior to the commutation, Ivey said she notified Attorney General Steve Marshall and a designated member of Hardy’s family.
“Capital punishment is too important of a tool for Alabama to not approach it carefully and seriously,” Ivey added in her statement. “Mr. Johnson will serve the remainder of his life behind bars for the senseless murder of Deputy Sheriff William Hardy. No doubt, he is paying the price.”
Ty Alper, one of Toforest Johnson’s attorneys, said they are grateful to Ivey for “diligently reviewing Toforest’s case and taking action to spare an innocent man from execution.” Alper said the fight to overturn the conviction will 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.
Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr has supported Johnson’s bid for a new trial. Carr wrote in a 2024 court filing that the “evidence in this case has unraveled over 20 years.”
Carr said in 2024 that credible alibi witnesses place Johnson elsewhere at the time of the crime. He said there are multiple reasons to doubt the key prosecution witness, a woman who “claimed she overheard Johnson confess to the murder on a three-way phone call on which she was eavesdropping.”
The key prosecution witness at Johnson’s 1998 trial testified that, while eavesdropping on a phone call, she heard a man she believed was Johnson admitting to the crime. She was paid $5,000 in 2001 for her testimony, and Johnson’s lawyers argue that the state withheld evidence of monetary motivation for the testimony.
A number of former judges and prosecutors have joined those seeking a new trial for Johnson amid questions about his conviction more than 20 years ago. Former Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley, former Chief Justices Sonny Hornsby and Drayton Nabers, and several former judges and prosecutors have submitted briefs or written editorials supporting a new trial.
— CBS News
