Toforest Johnson seeks new trial for unreliable conviction

The legal team of Toforest Johnson, a death row inmate for over 20 years have recently sought to have a new trial ordered and that Mr Johnson’s case be dismissed based on procedural issues.  

Further, Mr Johnson’s legal team have criticised the Alabama Attorney General’s Office’s actions and inactions in Mr Johnson’s case describing them as “alarming” and “a cause for serious concern.”

Toforest Johnson, was convicted of capital murder in 1998 and has been on death row since, despite denying he committed the crime.

In 2020, Jefferson County District Attorney, Danny Carr, voiced concerns about Toforest’s case and asked for a new trial following the investigation and review of supporting material that found that Toforest’s conviction was unreliable and that the duty to seek justice required intervention in his case. One factor that was included in this supporting material, was that jurors in Toforest’s trial, did not hear from several witnesses who could have provided an alibi for Toforest at the time of the murder.

Following filing, Toforest’s lawyers have stated that “the purpose of further proceedings is clear: to ensure that Alabama does not execute an innocent person based on a conviction that is fundamentally unreliable.”

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