‘He is innocent': Juror urges clemency for Alabama man facing execution

THAT ARE WARMING NICELY. HERE’S THAT VIEW FROM OUR FULL MOON BARBECUE CAMERA. NICE CLEAR SKY AND ALABASTER AT THIS POINT THROUGH THE REST OF THE AFTERNOON, WE’RE NOT GOING TO SEE MUCH OF A CHANGE. IT IS ALL AROUND US. GOING TO BE A VERY NICE DAY FOR US. TEMPERATURES AT THIS POINT IN THE MID TO UPPER 50S AND A LOT OF LOCATIONS. WE’RE REPORTING 56 DEGREES IN ALABASTER, 59 IN BIRMINGHAM WARM SPOT ALEX CITY AT 62 DEGREES, FAYETTE AT 58 AND GADSDEN SITTING RIGHT AROUND 55. NOW, BY THE LATE AFTERNOON, WE’RE GOING TO CLIMB CLOSE TO OR JUST ABOVE AVERAGE FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR, WITH A LOT OF SPOTS SEEING THOSE LOW TO MID 60S. THIS IS GOING TO FEEL REALLY PLEASANT, ESPECIALLY COMPARED TO SOME OF THOSE BELOW AVERAGE TEMPERATURES WE HAD THROUGHOUT MUCH OF LAST WEEK. WE ARE ON A SLOW WARMING TREND, WHICH IS EVENTUALLY GOING TO BRING US INTO THE 70S OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. BUT LET’S BREAK DOWN THE REST OF TODAY, HOUR BY HOUR. IF YOU’RE OUT AND ABOUT AT 2 P.M., WE’RE NEAR 63 DEGREES UNDER A MAINLY CLEAR SKY. 4:00 THAT’S WHEN WE’RE GOING TO TYPICALLY SEE OUR AFTERNOON HIGH IN THE MID 60S. AND THEN FOR DINNER TIME. UPPER 50S CLEAR SKIES. WE’LL BE DROPPING INTO THE 40S RIGHT AROUND 10:00 THIS EVENING. LOOKING AT THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS, A LOT TO LIKE IN THIS FORECAST TOMORROW WE’RE EVEN WARMER, UPPER 60S, CLOSE TO 70 DEGREES. WEDNESDAY, LIKELY TO BE THE WARMEST DAY THROUGH THE REST OF THE WEEK, WITH HIGHS ABOUT TEN DEGREES ABOVE AVERAGE FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR IN THE LOW TO MID 70S BEFORE OUR NEXT FRONT MOVES THROUGH ON THURSDAY, BRINGING A LOW CHANCE FOR A FEW SHOWERS AND KNOCKING DOWN OUR HIGHS CLOSER TO AVERAGE FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR. BUT LET’S HIGHLIGHT WEDNESDAY. THIS IS GOING TO BE THE WARMEST DAY AND JUST ALL AROUND BEAUTIFUL. HOPEFULLY YOU CAN FIND AN OPPORTUNITY TO BE OUTDOORS, AT LEAST FOR A LITTLE BIT OF TIME. THIS IS GOING TO FEEL LIKE SPRING. FORECASTING A HIGH OF 73 IN GADSDEN. ALSO IN HAMILTON, TUSCALOOSA DEMOPOLIS A CALERA LIKELY TO REACH 75 DEGREES 73 IN AUBURN. AND THEN COMES OUR FRONT. NOW THIS IS MAINLY GOING TO BE A DRY FRONT, BUT THURSDAY MORNING WILL BE MONITORING FOR A FEW VERY LIGHT SPRINKLES LACKING MOISTURE. SO ANY KIND OF RAIN WE SEE IS GOING TO BE ON THE LIGHT SIDE. RAINFALL TOTALS LESS THAN A 10TH OF AN INCH THROUGH 9 A.M., A FEW SPOTTY LIGHT SPRINKLES OVER NORTH ALABAMA. FRONT KEEPS MOVING THROUGH. WE WILL HAVE SOME CLOUDS AROUND DURING THE DAY ON THURSDAY. LOW CHANCE FOR AN AFTERNOON SHOWER CLOSER TO THE I-85 CORRIDOR. AND THEN AS WE MOVE INTO FRIDAY, WE ARE A LITTLE BIT COOLER THAN WEDNESDAY, BUT STILL ABOVE AVERAGE FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR. SO THIS IS NOT GOING TO BE A FRONT THAT’S GOING TO DO A LOT TO CHANGE OUR TEMPERATURES. WE’RE STILL GOING TO FEEL GREAT ON FRIDAY AND THEN LOOKING VERY QUIET INTO THE WEEKEND AS WELL, WITH A LOT OF SUNSHINE BOTH SATU

Video above: �� 13 Monday weather forecastThe Alabama Supreme Court has cleared the way for the execution of a man whose innocence claim is supported by a juror from his trial.Justices on Friday authorized the execution of Robin “Rocky�� Myers, who was convicted in the 1991 killing of his neighbor, Ludie Mae Tucker. The execution will be carried out by nitrogen gas at a date set by the governor’s office.A juror at his 1994 trial is among those urging Gov. Kay Ivey to consider clemency and leave Myers in prison for the rest of his life, instead of sending him to the death chamber.“I know he is innocent. They never proved he did it. They never proved he was in the house,�� juror Mae Puckett said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press after the court decision.Kacey Keeton, a lawyer for Myers, said his case is “rife with examples of failure.�� She said there is no physical evidence linking him to the crime. An earlier lawyer abandoned the case, causing Myers to miss a key 2003 deadline for federal appeals. A prosecution witness has since recanted. And a judge overrode the jury’s wish that he be spared from a death sentence.“For those who support the death penalty, Rocky Myers’s case should give you pause. I believe, without reservation, that Rocky Myers did not commit a murder, but you don’t have to agree with me on that to believe that the death penalty is not appropriate in this case,�� Keeton, his attorney, said.The crimeTucker, 69, was fatally stabbed in her Decatur home in October of 1991. Her cousin, who was also attacked but survived, testified that the doorbell rang during the middle of the night. She heard a man asking about using the telephone. Then she heard Tucker screaming out her name.Before she died, Tucker told police that her attacker was a short, stocky Black man but could not identify him.Myers lived across the street with his family. LeAndrew Hood, Myers�� son who was 11 at the time of Tuckers�� death, said they would go buy ice from Tucker.“She knew us. She had enough breath to say it was a short, stocky Black man. If it was my father, all she had to do was say it was the man across the street,�� Hood said.Puckett said she and a few other jurors had doubts about the allegations. But she feared if the case ended in mistrial, another jury would sentence Myers to death. So, Puckett said she agreed to a compromise �� find him guilty but recommend life in prison. Jurors voted 9-3 that he serve life in prison. However, the judge sentenced Myers to death anyway under Alabama’s now-abolished system that let judges decide death sentences.“The deck was stacked against him before it ever started. It was just an awful, awful thing, and it still is,�� Puckett said of Myers.Missed deadlineEarle Schwarz, a lawyer from Tennessee, represented Myers for a time after signing up through a national network of lawyers offering pro bono services. The Tennessee lawyer, who volunteered to work on Myers initial appeals, acknowledged he did not tell Myers when he stopped working on his case, according to court documents. Myers, who reads at a fourth-grade level according to his attorneys, didn’t know his lawyer had left and missed a 2023 deadline to file for a federal habeas corpus petition. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals called it an “inexcusable abandonment�� but said Myers should have attempted to figure out what was happening in his case.The U.S. Supreme Court bars the execution of intellectually disabled people. Myers scored a 64 and 71 on IQ tests given when he was an adolescent, and scored 73, on an IQ test given in 2013, according to his lawyers. The state maintains a psychologist in 2006, placed his IQ at 84, a level that would make him eligible for execution. His attorneys said that score is an outlier.The Alabama attorney general’s office wrote in a court filing that Puckett’s concerns aren’t proof of innocence.“The affidavit, read in the light most favorable to Myers, states only that some of the jurors had doubts as to Myers’s guilt �� it does not prove that he was actually innocent or that the trial court erred by overriding the jury’s recommendation,�� state lawyers wrote.Keeton said the only remaining chance for Myers now is clemency.“Clemency is designed as a failsafe. If the system fails—as it has repeatedly failed Mr. Myers—clemency is there to save his life,�� she said.Stay updated on the latest stories with the �� 13 app. You can download it here.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. —

Video above: �� 13 Monday weather forecast

The Alabama Supreme Court has cleared the way for the execution of a man whose innocence claim is supported by a juror from his trial.

Justices on Friday authorized the execution of Robin “Rocky�� Myers, who was convicted in the 1991 killing of his neighbor, Ludie Mae Tucker. The execution will be carried out by nitrogen gas at a date set by the governor’s office.

A juror at his 1994 trial is among those urging Gov. Kay Ivey to consider clemency and leave Myers in prison for the rest of his life, instead of sending him to the death chamber.

“I know he is innocent. They never proved he did it. They never proved he was in the house,�� juror Mae Puckett said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press after the court decision.

Kacey Keeton, a lawyer for Myers, said his case is “rife with examples of failure.�� She said there is no physical evidence linking him to the crime. An earlier lawyer abandoned the case, causing Myers to miss a key 2003 deadline for federal appeals. A prosecution witness has since recanted. And a judge overrode the jury’s wish that he be spared from a death sentence.

“For those who support the death penalty, Rocky Myers’s case should give you pause. I believe, without reservation, that Rocky Myers did not commit a murder, but you don’t have to agree with me on that to believe that the death penalty is not appropriate in this case,�� Keeton, his attorney, said.

The crime

Tucker, 69, was fatally stabbed in her Decatur home in October of 1991. Her cousin, who was also attacked but survived, testified that the doorbell rang during the middle of the night. She heard a man asking about using the telephone. Then she heard Tucker screaming out her name.

Before she died, Tucker told police that her attacker was a short, stocky Black man but could not identify him.

Myers lived across the street with his family. LeAndrew Hood, Myers�� son who was 11 at the time of Tuckers�� death, said they would go buy ice from Tucker.

“She knew us. She had enough breath to say it was a short, stocky Black man. If it was my father, all she had to do was say it was the man across the street,�� Hood said.

Puckett said she and a few other jurors had doubts about the allegations. But she feared if the case ended in mistrial, another jury would sentence Myers to death. So, Puckett said she agreed to a compromise �� find him guilty but recommend life in prison. Jurors voted 9-3 that he serve life in prison. However, the judge sentenced Myers to death anyway under Alabama’s that let judges decide death sentences.

“The deck was stacked against him before it ever started. It was just an awful, awful thing, and it still is,�� Puckett said of Myers.

Missed deadline

Earle Schwarz, a lawyer from Tennessee, represented Myers for a time after signing up through a national network of lawyers offering pro bono services. The Tennessee lawyer, who volunteered to work on Myers initial appeals, acknowledged he did not tell Myers when he stopped working on his case, according to court documents. Myers, who reads at a fourth-grade level according to his attorneys, didn’t know his lawyer had left and missed a 2023 deadline to file for a federal habeas corpus petition. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals called it an “inexcusable abandonment�� but said Myers should have attempted to figure out what was happening in his case.

The U.S. Supreme Court bars the execution of intellectually disabled people. Myers scored a 64 and 71 on IQ tests given when he was an adolescent, and scored 73, on an IQ test given in 2013, according to his lawyers. The state maintains a psychologist in 2006, placed his IQ at 84, a level that would make him eligible for execution. His attorneys said that score is an outlier.

The Alabama attorney general’s office wrote in a court filing that Puckett’s concerns aren’t proof of innocence.

“The affidavit, read in the light most favorable to Myers, states only that some of the jurors had doubts as to Myers’s guilt �� it does not prove that he was actually innocent or that the trial court erred by overriding the jury’s recommendation,�� state lawyers wrote.

Keeton said the only remaining chance for Myers now is clemency.

“Clemency is designed as a failsafe. If the system fails—as it has repeatedly failed Mr. Myers—clemency is there to save his life,�� she said.

Stay updated on the latest stories with the �� 13 app. You can download it here.

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