金·钱德勒 蒙哥马利，阿拉巴马州 — 阿拉巴马州州长凯·艾维周二宣布减刑一名死刑犯的死刑判决，此前多名前公职人员和现任地区检察官对其定罪提出了质疑。
KIM CHANDLER MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Tuesday commuted the death sentence of a death-row inmate after a number of former public officials, and the current district attorney, raised doubts about his conviction.
这位共和党籍州长表示，她将托福雷斯特·约翰逊的死刑判决减为无假释可能的终身监禁。约翰逊因1995年谋杀杰斐逊县副治安官威廉·哈迪而被定罪。约翰逊长期坚称自己无罪。
The Republican governor said she was commuting Toforest Johnson’s death sentence to life in prison without parole. Johnson was convicted of the 1995 murder of Jefferson County Deputy Sheriff William Hardy. Johnson has long maintained he is innocent.
艾维在一份声明中说：“在审视约翰逊先生的案件时，我担心没有足够的直接证据来执行最严厉的惩罚——死刑。”“我的决定并非对其无罪的认定，而是承认该案件的具体情况足以证明将其死刑判决减为无假释可能的终身监禁是合理的。”艾维担任州长期间已监督执行了27次死刑。她已对三名死刑犯的死刑判决予以减刑。
“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 during her time as governor. She has commuted the death sentence of three death row inmates.
哈迪在一家酒店兼职安保工作时被两枪击中头部身亡。约翰逊坚称案发时他在城镇的另一侧。
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.
托福雷斯特·约翰逊的律师之一泰·阿尔珀表示，他们感谢艾维“认真审查了托福雷斯特的案件，并采取行动使一名无辜者免于处决”。阿尔珀说，推翻定罪的斗争将继续。
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.
阿尔珀说：“托福雷斯特·约翰逊是无辜的。现在由法院来推翻他的定罪并批准重审。我们将继续奋斗，直到他能与家人团聚。”
“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.
这起案件引起了全国关注，并成为一档播客节目的主题，长期以来一直在进行法律努力以争取重审。2018年当选的杰斐逊县地方检察官丹尼·卡尔支持约翰逊争取重审的请求。卡尔在2024年的一份法庭文件中写道，该案“证据在20多年间已逐渐瓦解”。
There has been a long-running legal effort to win a new trial in the case that has garnered national attention and was the subject of a podcast . Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr, who was elected in 2018, 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.”
卡尔在2024年表示，可信的不在场证明证人将约翰逊置于案发时的其他地点。他指出，有多个理由怀疑关键控方证人——一名女子的可信度，该女子“声称她在一通三方通话中偷听到约翰逊供认谋杀”。在约翰逊1998年的审判中，这名关键控方证人作证称，她在偷听电话时听到一名她认为是约翰逊的男子承认了罪行。她因作证于2001年获得了5000美元报酬，约翰逊的律师辩称，州政府隐瞒了证人因金钱动机作证的证据。
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.
多名前法官和检察官加入了寻求为约翰逊重审的行列，此前对其20多年前的定罪提出了质疑。前阿拉巴马州总检察长比尔·巴克斯利、前首席大法官桑尼·霍恩斯比和德雷顿·纳伯斯，以及多名前法官和检察官已提交法庭之友简报或撰写社论，支持重审。
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.