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| Ala. Death Row Inmate Seeks Stay From Supreme Court |
| By Birmingham News |
| Published: 12/12/2002 |
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The man scheduled to be the first inmate in Alabama to die by lethal injection looked to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday for a stay while Gov. Don Siegelman considered a request to intervene. Anthony Keith Johnson, 46, is set to die at 6 p.m. Thursday in connection with the 1984 slaying of Hartselle jeweler Kenneth Cantrell during a robbery attempt. His attorney asked the U.S. justices Tuesday to stay the execution on the grounds that Alabama's sentencing structure is unconstitutional. Johnson's family also is appealing to Gov. Don Siegelman, arguing that prosecutors acknowledge Johnson did not fire the fatal shots and the actual gunman remains free. Some former law enforcement officers who worked the case also say Johnson's life should be temporarily spared so he can testify against the others suspected of being involved in the crime. Johnson, in a letter to Siegelman, has identified men he says were involved. Alton Johnson, the inmate's father, said his son didn't testify against them years ago because they had threatened his family. 'I think it was fear, fear for his mother and myself and his brother,' said Alton Johnson. Harold Newell, the state investigator who handled the case, says Johnson offered four years ago to cooperate in bringing the others involved in the murder to trial. He believes that information should have been used to reopen the case. 'I'd rather see the governor give him a stay and hopefully go after these others,' said Newell. 'They are the ones that will breathe the biggest sigh of relief when Anthony Keith is executed.' Johnson's attorney, Deborah Forbes of Washington, D.C., on Tuesday filed asking the U.S. Supreme Court to stay his death sentence. She cited a decision of the court in an Arizona case that held juries, not judges, must impose the death penalty. A jury recommended on a 9-3 vote that Johnson be sentenced to life in prison, but Morgan County Circuit Judge R.L. Hundley rejected that recommendation and imposed a death sentence. Assistant Attorney General Clay Crenshaw is expected to file a brief opposing the request. Crenshaw argues that the Arizona decision does not affect the Alabama cases because Alabama juries determine whether the accused is eligible for the death sentence when they debate their guilt on a capital murder charge. Also, Arizona, unlike Alabama, gives juries no participation in sentencing. Johnson's letter to Siegelman names three men as participants in the crime. 'Keith was the lookout,' Forbes said. 'He does not have entirely clean hands. But he was a tangential player, and the police have known this from the very beginning.' Crenshaw said Johnson fired a weapon during the robbery attempt, but none of those bullets were found in the victim. 'All that shows is that he had the specific attempt to kill, but he missed,' he said. Siegelman Press Secretary Mike Kanarick said Tuesday that the request for a stay is under review. Siegelman, who leaves office Jan. 20, has not granted clemency for a single Death Row inmate since taking office. |
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