Toforest Johnson

Toforest Onesha Johnson (born 1973) is an inmate on death row at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Escambia County.

He was convicted of capital murder for the July 19, 1995 shooting death of Jefferson County Sheriff's Office Deputy William Hardy, while he was working as an off-duty security guard at Crown Sterling Suites in birmingham's Southridge Office Park. There were no eyewitnesses.

Four men were charged in the case. Quintez Wilson and Omar Berry saw their charges dropped after a witness recanted her testimony. Wilson became a victim of homicide himself in 2008. Ardragus Ford and Johnson were prosecuted separately for the same crime in 1998. Ford was acquitted after two mistrials. Johnson was convicted of capital murder, largely based on testimony from Violet Ellison, who claimed to have overheard him confess to the shooting in a telephone call to her brother at the Jefferson County Jail. He was sentenced to death.

In 2017 an appeal was filed by Southern Poverty Law Center attorneys working pro-bono. They found as many as 10 witnesses affirming that Ford and Johnson were at Tee's Place at the time of the shooting, and argued that prosecutors concealed the fact that Ellison had been paid $5,000 in reward money for her testimony. After the case was sent back to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, they found that it couldn't be proven that Ellison knew about the reward money at the time she gave her statement to police. In September 2023 the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of that decision.

Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr has filed motions before Judges Teresa Pulliam and Kandice Pickett requesting a new trial based on the preponderance of information suggesting that Johnson was wrongfully convicted.

References

• Shelburne, Beth (June 4, 2019) "Man on Alabama’s death row for murder of deputy says he’s innocent." WBRC.com
• Balko, Radley (September 5, 2019) "An illusion of justice: The baffling conviction and death sentence of Toforest Johnson reveal a broken system." The Washington Post
• Wright, Erica (February 19, 2020) "Family of Alabama Death Row Inmate Seeks Just Mercy." The Birmingham Times
• Shelburne, Beth (May 8, 2022) "Alabama Appeals Court rules against high-profile death row prisoner." WBRC.com
• Michaels, Ryan (April 17, 2023) "Lawyers for Alabama Death Row Inmate Toforest Johnson Announce Next Step." The Birmingham Times
• Hrynkiw, Ivana (May 20, 2024) "Alabama inmate Toforest Johnson’s death sentence ‘cannot be justified or allowed to stand,’ says DA." AL.com

External links

• Justice for Toforest Johnson website maintained by Greater Birmingham Ministries