USA - Robin Myers (AL)

USA - Alabama. Gov. Ivey commutes death sentence of Robin Myers

February 28, 2025:

February 28, 2025 - Alabama. Gov. Kay Ivey commutes death sentence of Robin Myers
Gov. Kay Ivey of Alabama, an ardent supporter of capital punishment, commuted the death sentence of an intellectually disabled man convicted of murder on Friday.
Robin Myers, now 63, Black, was convicted of committing murder during a 1991 robbery. Gov. Kay Ivey said evidence in his case was not enough for her to support putting him to death, but there wasn't enough evidence to free him, either.
"I am not convinced that Mr. Myers is innocent, but I am not so convinced of his guilt as to approve of his execution," the governor said in a statement.
Prosecutors alleged that on Oct. 4, 1991, Myers went to a Decatur home, stabbed two people, killing Ludie Mae Tucker, then left with a VHS machine he later traded for crack cocaine.
The victims, including Tucker before she died, did not identify Myers, but police didn't believe his story that he found that VHS machine, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Though a jury recommended a life sentence for Myers, a state judge sentenced him to death.
Ivey said on Friday that she has "questions" about the case, noting no murder weapon was found, no fingerprint evidence was linked to Myers, and no DNA evidence or other physical evidence tied him to the scene.
"Thus far as governor, I have presided over 22 executions, and I will never waver in my belief that the death penalty is just punishment for society’s most serious crimes," she said.
Federal public defender Kacey Keeton, who represents Myers and helped him petition for commutation, expressed gratitude.
The announcement comes after a former juror on the case, Mae Puckett, came forward to say she didn’t think Myers was guilty and to asked the governor to grant clemency.
“They never ever placed him in the house that night,” Puckett told AL.com in 2023.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/alabama-death-sentence-kay-ivey-robin-rocky-myers-rcna194308