Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has asked the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals to compel federal district courts to issue rulings in four long-pending capital punishment cases, arguing that years of delay have stalled the state’s criminal justice system and prolonged justice for victims’ families.

Marshall recently filed petitions asking the appellate court to force action in four federal habeas corpus cases dating back as far as 2010, according to a news release from his office. The delays, he said, represent what the filings describe as a “recurring — perhaps systemic — problem” that undermines the promise of swift justice in Alabama.

Under current legal precedent, the state generally cannot carry out an execution until federal courts complete their review of a case. After years of waiting, Marshall argues the courts have had ample time to issue decisions, according to the release.

“It pains us whenever a family member or friend of a victim calls to check on a case, and we have to say, again and again, that our hands are tied — we’re just waiting on a ruling. We’ve done our jobs, secured a conviction, defended it on appeal, and it’s past time for the federal courts to do theirs — or get out of the way,” Marshall said in the release. “At some point, judicial delay starts to look like judicial abolition of the death penalty. Not on my watch. I will not allow the State’s criminal cases, especially those involving the worst of the worst criminals, to remain neglected by the federal courts.”

The four cases highlighted by Marshall span more than two decades of violent crimes across Alabama and involve convictions that have already been reviewed through the state appellate system, per the release.

One case involves Charles Randall Stewart, who was sentenced to death for the 1990 murder of his ex-wife, Betty Lang, in Talladega County. Authorities said the killing occurred in front of the couple’s 6-year-old son. Stewart filed a federal habeas petition in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama on July 8, 2014. Nearly 12 years later, and despite two motions requesting a timely ruling, the petition remains unresolved, according to Marshall’s office.

Another case centers on Michael Craig Maxwell, who was sentenced to death for the 1998 killings of Harold Pugh and Pugh’s 11-year-old son, Joey, in Colbert County. Maxwell was convicted of four counts of capital murder. A jury recommended the death penalty and the trial court imposed the sentence. Maxwell filed a federal habeas petition in the Northern District of Alabama on July 29, 2010. The case has been fully briefed since March 2011 with additional rounds of briefing in 2014 and 2024. The state has filed four motions requesting a ruling, but the court has not taken action, according to the release.

In Jackson County, James Ben Brownfield was sentenced to death for the 2001 killings of his sister, Brenda McCutchin, her husband, Latham McCutchin, and Brenda’s 3-year-old grandson, Joshua Hodges. A jury convicted Brownfield of three counts of capital murder and recommended a death sentence. His legal team filed a federal habeas petition in the Northern District of Alabama and the case was fully briefed in December 2019. The state later requested a timely ruling, but the court has not yet issued a decision, Marshall’s office said in the release.

The fourth case involves Kerry M. Spencer, who was sentenced to death for the 2004 murders of Birmingham Police Officers Carlos Owen, Harley A. Chisolm III and Charles R. Bennett. Spencer also was convicted of the attempted murder of Officer Michael Collins. Spencer filed his federal habeas petition in November 2016 and the case was fully briefed by Nov. 20, 2017. More than eight years later, the court has not ruled despite efforts by the state to move the case forward, according to the release.

Marshall’s petitions ask the Eleventh Circuit to order the federal district courts to act on the cases. Without intervention, the attorney general argues the delays will continue to prevent Alabama from carrying out sentences that have already been upheld through the state court system.

Federal habeas corpus petitions allow death row inmates to challenge state convictions in federal court, often alleging constitutional violations during trials or appeals. The review process can take years as courts examine trial records, legal arguments and prior rulings.

Marshall said the extended delays leave victims’ families waiting indefinitely for resolution and undermine confidence in the criminal justice system, according to the release from his office.

Recently, Marshall expressed his disappointment with Gov. Kay Ivey’s decision to commute the death sentence of Charles “Sonny” Burton, a man who had spent 34 years on death row and was two days from execution. Burton, now 75, had been scheduled to be executed Thursday, March 12, by nitrogen hypoxia.

Burton was convicted of capital murder in connection with a 1991 AutoZone robbery in Talladega during which customer Doug Battle, an Army veteran, was killed. Burton, 40 at the time, organized the robbery and pointed a gun at an employee’s head, though he was outside the store when the fatal shooting occurred. Derrick DeBruce, the man who shot Battle, originally received a death sentence that was overturned in 2014 and reduced to life without parole. DeBruce died in 2020.

Marshall criticized the commutation, calling Burton a “murderer” and saying the decision undermined accountability.

“While the media has done its best to paint Mr. Burton as a harmless, decrepit old man, he is a murderer. He organized an armed robbery, held a gun to the store manager’s head, and callously doled out the proceeds of the robbery once Douglas Battle, an army veteran, was dead. Burton was a career criminal before he became a murderer, and the jury rightfully held him responsible for the death that he caused,” Marshall said in a statement.

He added that longstanding Alabama law recognizes accomplice liability and that Burton had “Douglas Battle’s blood on his hands.” He said Burton could have been executed years earlier but had prolonged the process through appeals.

“I firmly believe that he should have faced the punishment imposed by a jury of his peers and upheld by numerous judges,” Marshall said.

In the days leading up to Burton’s scheduled execution, reports said three original jury members and Battle’s daughter said Burton should not be executed. The commutation marks only the second time Ivey has granted clemency to a death row inmate. Burton will remain in state custody for the rest of his life, ending a legal saga that stretched more than three decades.