Ivana Hrynkiw

1 week ago | al.com | Ivana Hrynkiw

Robbie Deason last talked to his 33-year-old son the day before the presidential election, when his son called from a phone at a south Alabama prison. Before the ballots had been cast, his son was dead. And he still doesn’t know why. Or how. Or even exactly when. “She notified me about his death like she was telling me to pick up my dry cleaners,” said Deason, recalling his conversation with a captain from the prison.

1 month ago | al.com | Ivana Hrynkiw

Robin Dion “Rocky” Myers called his lawyer a liar. “I kind of regretted it as soon as I said it,” Myers told AL.com through the phone. “I kind of slapped myself.” The remark came as he was stunned to learn that Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey had decided to spare his life on Feb. 28, making him the first man to have his death sentence commuted in Alabama in modern history. Myers, 63, was set to die this spring by inhaling pure nitrogen gas at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore.

1 month ago | al.com | Ivana Hrynkiw

A group of former prosecutors has filed a brief urging a Jefferson County judge to grant a new trial for Alabama Death Row inmate Toforest Johnson. “Given that both the current Jefferson County District Attorney and the original line prosecutor recommend a new trial for Mr. Johnson, this Court should grant the relief they request,” said the brief, which was signed by 10 former state and federal prosecutors, including former Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley and former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones.

1 month ago | al.com | Ivana Hrynkiw

Lawyers for Toforest Johnson, an Alabama Death Row inmate whose conviction has long been questioned even by the original prosecutor, criticized the Alabama Attorney General’s Office in a court filing Monday morning, calling its actions in the case “alarming.”“The Attorney General’s actions and inactions here are cause for serious concern,” wrote Johnson’s legal team.

1 month ago | al.com | Ivana Hrynkiw

Robin “Rocky” Dion Myers, a man who has long claimed innocence in the 1991 killing of a north Alabama woman, will not be put to death by Alabama. Gov. Kay Ivey announced Friday she has commuted his sentence to life in prison without the chance of parole. Myers, 63, was set to die by inhaling nitrogen this spring at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. The New Jersey native has been on Alabama’s Death Row for more than 30 years, for the stabbing death of Ludie Mae Tucker.