MONTGOMERY, Ala. — More than 40 activists marched to the Alabama State Capitol recently to demand that Gov. Kay Ivey grant clemency to ‘Rocky’ Myers, an Alabamian who was sentenced to death by a judge over the recommendation of a jury, a process known as judicial override.
Organized by the Alabama chapter of the human rights organization Amnesty International, the march was preceded by a rally in front of the State House in support of House Bill 27. The bill would reform the manner in which Alabamians could be sentenced to death.
While Ivey signed a bill in 2017 that prohibited judicial override, it was not retroactive, leaving those sentenced to death by a judge over the recommendation of a jury prior to the bill’s passage still set to be executed.
Sponsored by Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, HB27 would grant the 33 Alabamians still sitting on death row that were sentenced via judicial override an opportunity to be resentenced.
Myers, who was diagnosed with an intellectual disability, was convicted for the 1991 killing of Ludie Mae Tucker, though critics say the case against Myers lacked any forensic evidence tying him to the murder. The jury had voted to sentence Myers to life in prison, though the judge overrode that decision to impose the death penalty.
Myers’ son, LeAndrew Hood, said at the rally that despite the grim circumstances, both he and his father remained optimistic as to the prospects of his release.
“I’m happy that he still tells me that he’s coming home; he believes that, that’s in his heart, and I believe it too,” Hood said. “If he don’t come home, he’s going to heaven, so if they don’t want to let him go in the world, he’s going home anyway.”
England spoke to the few-dozen in attendance of the 2017 bill that removed a judge’s ability to override a jury’s decision to impose the death penalty, and said that the bill had originally included retroactivity and the requirement for a unanimous jury decision before a death sentence could be imposed.
Those elements, however, were ultimately removed from the bill upon its passage.
“Towards the end of that session, we didn’t want the perfect to be the enemy of the good, so we took what we could in hopes of coming back later on and adding additional components to require jury unanimity, and also retroactivity,” England said.
“If the entire state of Alabama, regardless of party affiliation, can come together and say that a judge should not be able to override a jury’s verdict when it comes to sentencing, justice demands us to afford those individuals who are still on death row, who were there from a judicial override, the opportunity to be resentenced.”
England called on the chair of the House Judiciary Committee – Rep. Jim Hill, R-Odenville – to place HB27 on the committee’s agenda “as soon as possible.”
A near-identical bill was filed by England last year, though it ultimately never made it to the House floor. England noted that had his previous version of the bill been passed, Kenneth Smith, who was executed by nitrogen hypoxia in January, would have had the opportunity to be resentenced.
Smith was convicted in 1988 for the murder of Elizabeth Sennett, whose husband, a preacher, had allegedly paid Smith $1,000 to carry out the murder-for-hire plot. Sentenced to death via judicial override.
Smith’s wife, Deanna Smith, was among the last speakers at the rally, and urged Alabama lawmakers to adopt HB27.
“Kenny was not sentenced to death; 11 people on his jury said he should still be here today,” Deanna Smith said.
“One judge is all it took to override that decision. Right now, we have a chance and a choice to make it right for people like Rocky and the other men on death row, so please, vote for HB27. Don’t let it slip by like it did last year, because the truth is, people’s lives are at stake.”
Following the rally, activists began to march down North Union Street to the State Capitol, and informed a representative for Ivey of the hundreds of thousands of signatures a petition to grant clemency to Rocky had amassed. As of Friday, the petition has amassed more than 860,000 signatures.