Birmingham D.A. Says Alabama Man Who Has Spent Over Two Decades on Death Row Should Get New Trial In 1998, Toforest Johnson was sentenced to die for the 1995 shooting death of an off-duty sheriff’s deputy. Now, the city’s district attorney is advocating for a new trial. Lauren Gill
An Alabama Man On Death Row Says He Is Innocent. Will He Get a New Trial? In 1998, prosecutors failed to tell the defense that a key witness in Toforest Johnson’s capital murder trial would receive thousands of dollars in reward money for her testimony, Johnson’s attorneys say. Now a Birmingham judge must decide whether their argument has merit. Lauren Gill