Wyoming
Governor signs ban on abortions after about 6 weeks but cites misgivings
Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon on Monday signed ban on abortions after embryotic cardiac activity can be detected, generally at about six weeks’ gestation and often before women know they’re pregnant.
The signing makes Wyoming the fifth state to bar abortions at that stage of pregnancy, along with Florida, Georgia, Iowa and South Carolina. Thirteen other states bar abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with some exceptions.
Gordon, a Republican, said in a letter to lawmakers Monday that he has some misgivings about the law he signed because it does not include exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest. “Where the act does not align to my pro-life stance is in the concern for specific vulnerable populations,” he wrote.
The law does make an exception in cases to “preserve the woman from an imminent peril that substantially endangers her life or health, according to appropriate medical judgment.”
The other issue, Gordon said, is that the law “very likely puts us back in the all too familiar and unfortunate territory of pro-life litigation.” The state’s Supreme Court in January stuck down a ban on abortion throughout pregnancy.
Already on Monday, Julie Burkhart, president of Wellspring Health Access — the state’s only clinic offering both abortion procedures and abortion by medication — said in a statement that she was prepared to challenge the new ban in court.
“This ban is an attack on Wyomingites’ constitutional freedom to make their own health care decisions, and it puts the health and well-being of our communities at risk,” she said.
Abortion access in Wyoming has varied in recent years, in part because the state’s sole clinic was set on fire in 2022, delaying its opening. At times, it has offered only medication abortion. The state Health Department says that in 2024, the last year for which records have been compiled, there were 625 abortions in the state.
Katie Knutter, executive director of the Casper-based clinic, said that it provided 303 abortions in 2025. She said the staff on Monday started referring patients who are farther along in their pregnancies to providers in other states.
Whether states allow abortion has been in flux since a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed states to enforce bans.
Alabama
Governor commutes death sentence of man whose accomplice fired fatal shot
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Tuesday commuted the death sentence of a 75-year-old inmate who was set to be executed this week even though he was not in the building when the victim was killed during a 1991 robbery.
Ivey reduced Charles “Sonny” Burton’s sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole, marking just the second time the Republican governor has granted clemency to a death row inmate since taking office in 2017.
Burton was sentenced to death for the shooting death of a customer, Doug Battle, during the robbery of an AutoZone auto parts store in Talladega. Though he had left the store before another man, Derrick DeBruce, killed Battle, Burton was convicted as an accomplice, with prosecutors portraying Burton as a leader of the robbery.
Both DeBruce and Burton were convicted of capital murder, but DeBruce’s sentence was overturned on appeal. DeBruce was resentenced to life in prison and died in prison.
Ivey, who has presided over 25 executions, said she firmly believes in the death penalty as “just punishment for society’s most heinous offenders,” but said it also must be administered fairly and proportionately. The Republican governor said she “cannot proceed in good conscience with the execution of Mr. Burton under such disparate circumstances.”
“I believe it would be unjust for one participant in this crime to be executed while the participant who pulled the trigger was not,” Ivey said in a statement. “To be clear, Mr. Burton will not be eligible for parole and will rightfully spend the remainder of his life behind bars for his role in the robbery that led to the murder of Doug Battle. He will now receive the same punishment as the triggerman.”
Burton was scheduled to be executed Thursday night by nitrogen gas, a new execution method the state began using in 2024.
Burton’s supporters and family members had urged Ivey to consider clemency for Burton, who uses a wheelchair. Multiple jurors from Burton’s 1992 trial were among those urging his life be spared. Battle’s daughter sent a letter to Ivey urging clemency, asking “how does it legally make sense” to execute Burton.
“I’m just so happy, so happy. It’s just tears of joy,” Burton’s daughter, Lois Harris, said through sobs during a telephone interview.
Alice Marie Johnson, whom President Donald Trump had tapped last year as his “pardon czar” after commuting her sentence for federal drug and money laundering charges, praised Ivey. She said the governor “showed what courageous and common sense leadership looks like.”
“By commuting the death sentence of Charles “Sonny” Burton, she ensured that justice — not technicalities — guides the most serious decision a state can make,” Johnson wrote on social media.
But Attorney General Steve Marshall slammed the move, saying, “There has never been any doubt that Sonny Burton has Douglas Battle’s blood on his hands.”
Burton organized the armed robbery and “held a gun to the store manager’s head” before dividing up the proceeds, Marshall said in a statement.
Burton received the news at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore as the state was making preparations for his execution on Thursday. Burton had made his request for a final meal and was working on a will to give away his belongings after he was put to death.
Matt Schulz, an assistant federal defender who represented Burton, said he was able to deliver the news in person.
“This was absolutely the right decision for the governor to make for any number of reasons,” Schulz said. “The biggest one is the fact that this dichotomy of executing a non-shooter who did not even see the shooting take place after the state itself had resentenced the shooter to life without parole.”
In a statement issued through his attorneys, Burton thanked the governor: “Just saying thank you doesn’t seem like much. But it’s what I can give her.”
Burton told The Associated Press last month that no one was supposed to be injured in the robbery and that he didn’t know until later that DeBruce had shot anyone.
“I didn’t know anything about nobody getting hurt until we were on the way back. No, nobody supposed to get hurt,” Burton said in a telephone interview from Alabama’s Holman Correctional Facility
Burton said he wants to apologize to Battle’s family. “I’m so sorry. If I had the power to bring him back, I would,” Burton said.
Governor signs ban on abortions after about 6 weeks but cites misgivings
Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon on Monday signed ban on abortions after embryotic cardiac activity can be detected, generally at about six weeks’ gestation and often before women know they’re pregnant.
The signing makes Wyoming the fifth state to bar abortions at that stage of pregnancy, along with Florida, Georgia, Iowa and South Carolina. Thirteen other states bar abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with some exceptions.
Gordon, a Republican, said in a letter to lawmakers Monday that he has some misgivings about the law he signed because it does not include exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest. “Where the act does not align to my pro-life stance is in the concern for specific vulnerable populations,” he wrote.
The law does make an exception in cases to “preserve the woman from an imminent peril that substantially endangers her life or health, according to appropriate medical judgment.”
The other issue, Gordon said, is that the law “very likely puts us back in the all too familiar and unfortunate territory of pro-life litigation.” The state’s Supreme Court in January stuck down a ban on abortion throughout pregnancy.
Already on Monday, Julie Burkhart, president of Wellspring Health Access — the state’s only clinic offering both abortion procedures and abortion by medication — said in a statement that she was prepared to challenge the new ban in court.
“This ban is an attack on Wyomingites’ constitutional freedom to make their own health care decisions, and it puts the health and well-being of our communities at risk,” she said.
Abortion access in Wyoming has varied in recent years, in part because the state’s sole clinic was set on fire in 2022, delaying its opening. At times, it has offered only medication abortion. The state Health Department says that in 2024, the last year for which records have been compiled, there were 625 abortions in the state.
Katie Knutter, executive director of the Casper-based clinic, said that it provided 303 abortions in 2025. She said the staff on Monday started referring patients who are farther along in their pregnancies to providers in other states.
Whether states allow abortion has been in flux since a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed states to enforce bans.
Alabama
Governor commutes death sentence of man whose accomplice fired fatal shot
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Tuesday commuted the death sentence of a 75-year-old inmate who was set to be executed this week even though he was not in the building when the victim was killed during a 1991 robbery.
Ivey reduced Charles “Sonny” Burton’s sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole, marking just the second time the Republican governor has granted clemency to a death row inmate since taking office in 2017.
Burton was sentenced to death for the shooting death of a customer, Doug Battle, during the robbery of an AutoZone auto parts store in Talladega. Though he had left the store before another man, Derrick DeBruce, killed Battle, Burton was convicted as an accomplice, with prosecutors portraying Burton as a leader of the robbery.
Both DeBruce and Burton were convicted of capital murder, but DeBruce’s sentence was overturned on appeal. DeBruce was resentenced to life in prison and died in prison.
Ivey, who has presided over 25 executions, said she firmly believes in the death penalty as “just punishment for society’s most heinous offenders,” but said it also must be administered fairly and proportionately. The Republican governor said she “cannot proceed in good conscience with the execution of Mr. Burton under such disparate circumstances.”
“I believe it would be unjust for one participant in this crime to be executed while the participant who pulled the trigger was not,” Ivey said in a statement. “To be clear, Mr. Burton will not be eligible for parole and will rightfully spend the remainder of his life behind bars for his role in the robbery that led to the murder of Doug Battle. He will now receive the same punishment as the triggerman.”
Burton was scheduled to be executed Thursday night by nitrogen gas, a new execution method the state began using in 2024.
Burton’s supporters and family members had urged Ivey to consider clemency for Burton, who uses a wheelchair. Multiple jurors from Burton’s 1992 trial were among those urging his life be spared. Battle’s daughter sent a letter to Ivey urging clemency, asking “how does it legally make sense” to execute Burton.
“I’m just so happy, so happy. It’s just tears of joy,” Burton’s daughter, Lois Harris, said through sobs during a telephone interview.
Alice Marie Johnson, whom President Donald Trump had tapped last year as his “pardon czar” after commuting her sentence for federal drug and money laundering charges, praised Ivey. She said the governor “showed what courageous and common sense leadership looks like.”
“By commuting the death sentence of Charles “Sonny” Burton, she ensured that justice — not technicalities — guides the most serious decision a state can make,” Johnson wrote on social media.
But Attorney General Steve Marshall slammed the move, saying, “There has never been any doubt that Sonny Burton has Douglas Battle’s blood on his hands.”
Burton organized the armed robbery and “held a gun to the store manager’s head” before dividing up the proceeds, Marshall said in a statement.
Burton received the news at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore as the state was making preparations for his execution on Thursday. Burton had made his request for a final meal and was working on a will to give away his belongings after he was put to death.
Matt Schulz, an assistant federal defender who represented Burton, said he was able to deliver the news in person.
“This was absolutely the right decision for the governor to make for any number of reasons,” Schulz said. “The biggest one is the fact that this dichotomy of executing a non-shooter who did not even see the shooting take place after the state itself had resentenced the shooter to life without parole.”
In a statement issued through his attorneys, Burton thanked the governor: “Just saying thank you doesn’t seem like much. But it’s what I can give her.”
Burton told The Associated Press last month that no one was supposed to be injured in the robbery and that he didn’t know until later that DeBruce had shot anyone.
“I didn’t know anything about nobody getting hurt until we were on the way back. No, nobody supposed to get hurt,” Burton said in a telephone interview from Alabama’s Holman Correctional Facility
Burton said he wants to apologize to Battle’s family. “I’m so sorry. If I had the power to bring him back, I would,” Burton said.
