Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey spares death row inmate, citing doubts about
evidence
[October 21, 2026]
BY KIM CHANDLER
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — 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.
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.
“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 sentences of three death row inmates.
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.
Ty Alper, one of 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.
There has been a long-running legal effort to win a new trial in the
case, which 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.”
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In this undated photo provided by the Johnson family on Tuesday,
Oct. 20, 2026, Toforest Johnson, right, poses for a photo with his
son, Robby Foster. (Johnson Family via AP)
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. 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.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall in an Oct. 16 letter had
urged Ivey to reject the clemency request and “respect the jury's
decision” and the decision of the courts reviewing the matter.
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