×
You've used up your 3 free articles for this month. Subscribe today.
A Song for Condemned Alabama Prisoner
Loaded on April 1, 2025
published in Prison Legal News
April, 2025, page 26
He shot the cop. Or his co-defendant did. Or he did it, but with another uncharged codefendant.
Alabama prosecutors used all three theories to try Toforest Johnson and co-defendant Ardargus Ford for the 1995 murder of Jefferson County Sheriff’s Dep. William Hardy at a Birmingham motel. Ford was …
Full article and associated cases available to subscribers.
As a digital subscriber to Prison Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.
Already a subscriber? Login
More from this issue:
- Deaths, Deplorable Conditions, Staff Misconduct Plague Memphis Jail
- From the Editor, by Paul Wright
- New Jersey Guard Sacked for Mocking George Floyd Killing Loses Appeal
- New York Suspends Solitary Ban to Woo Back Striking Prison Guards
- Porn Produced by Georgia Prisoners
- $7.15 Million for Oklahoma Prisoner Exonerated After Nearly 50 Years, by Anthony Accurso
- North Carolina Reimburses Prisoner $2,500 for Law Books Destroyed by Guards, by Anthony Accurso
- No State Oversight of Overcrowded, Understaffed, and Non-Compliant Idaho Jails
- No Sunshine on In-Custody Deaths in Sunshine State
- Little-Known Law Allows Some Texas Prisoners to Vote
- $1.35 Million in Settlements for One-Legged San Francisco Detainee Forced to Hop—Twice
- Ohio Pauses Executions, Louisiana and Arizona Race Ahead
- Self-Harming Wisconsin Prisoner Settles Failure-to-Protect Suit for $7,000, by Sam Rutherford
- Biden Clemency Recipients Included Virginians Sentenced for “Acquitted Conduct”
- 14 Overdoses in Two Weeks Leave One Dead at Phoenix Jail
- “Swing or Kick Rocks”: BOP Guard Alleges Conspiracy to Brutalize Prisoners at Kentucky Lockup
- Tucson Program Slashes Pretrial Misdemeanor Incarceration
- $1 Million Partial Settlement for Washington Jail Detainee’s Leg Amputation
- Tenth Circuit Stretches PLRA to Deny Claim of Colorado Prisoner Shot by Guard While Shackled, by Douglas Ankney
- $42 Million Jury Award for Detainees Tortured by U.S. Military at Abu Ghraib Prison
- Pardoned Insurrectionists Brought to D.C. Jail Demanded Others’ Immediate Release
- Houston Jail Cited for State-Law Violations Twice in a Month
- A Song for Condemned Alabama Prisoner
- Three Former Virginia Jailers Charged After Detainee Dies in “WRAP” Restraint
- Ninth Circuit: No Exception to Due Diligence in Discovery Even for “Conclusive Evidence”, by Anthony Accurso
- Sixth Circuit: Dismissals of Mixed-Claim Complaints Not Strikes Under PLRA
- Former Indiana Jailer Walks from Charges Over “Night of Terror”
- National Class Certified in Washington Jail Debit-Release Card Suit
- CoreCivic Will Cage Migrant Families in Texas Lockup
- Three More Prisoners Die, Three More Staffers Fired at Wisconsin Prison
- Jailing the Homeless: New Data Shed Light on Unhoused People in Local Jails, by Leah Wang
- GTL, Co-Defendant Agree to $21.3 Million Settlement in Price-Fixing Lawsuit
- No Opened Envelopes: Hawai’i Prisons Get New Mail Scanning Technology
- GEO Group Gets $1 Billion ICE Contract at New Jersey Lockup
- DOJ Finds “Horrific” Unconstitutional Conditions at Atlanta Jail
- Alabama Governor Commutes Death Sentence
- California Stops Raiding Released Prisoners’ Gate Money
- $4 Million Settlement Approved in HRDC’s Oregon Debit-Release Card Suit
- Nurse Charged, $2.6 Million Settlement Reached in Minnesota Jail Death
- Tenth Alabama Jail Employee Pleads Guilty in Detainee’s Freezing Death
- Muslim Prisoners Face Price-Gouging
- $250,000 Settlement But No Charges After Alabama Guards Beat Prisoner To Death, by Anthony Accurso
- GOP Washington Lawmaker Trolls Felon Enfranchisement Proponents
- Ninth Circuit: Posting Jail Mugshots on Arizona County’s Website Violates Substantive Due Process
- Georgia Fights Liability for Strip-Searching Prison Visitor, Nevada Pays $126,500
- Half of Hawai’i Prisoners Released With No ID
- Peters Fights Dismissal from BOP, Guards Lose Bonus Pay
- Southern Health Partners Settles Suit Over Kentucky Jail Meth Death
- Federal Watchdog Calls Out BOP for Spiking Suicide Risk at Pennsylvania Lockup, by Matthew Clarke
- Wisconsin DOC Agrees to Improve Services for Hearing-Impaired Prisoners
- $2.5 Million Settlement After South Carolina Jail Detainee Lost 2 Lbs.Per Day and Died, by Anthony Accurso
- More New York Guards Suspended After Another Prisoner’s Fatal Beating
- Fourth Circuit Excuses Maryland Prisoner From Exhaustion Requirement in PREA Claim, by Douglas Ankney
- Eighth Circuit: Arkansas Prisoner Who Had Consensual Sex With Guard Cannot Sustain Eighth Amendment Claim, by Matthew Clarke
- Illinois Pretrial Incarceration Becomes Less Random A Year After Elimination of Cash Bail, by David Reutter
- D.C. Circuit Reverses Dismissal of Federal Prisoner’s Complaint Due to PLRA Three-Strikes Rule
- TDCJ to Run Out of Beds in 2025, by Matthew Clarke
- News in Brief
- Shrewd Federal Prisoner Salvages $5,000 from Suit Against Arkansas Jail Where He Was Held Pre-Trial, by Anthony Accurso
More from these topics:
- Detroit Pays $5.8 Million to Former State Prisoner Exonerated of Murder After 15 Years, Aug. 1, 2026. Wrongful Conviction, Qualified Immunity, 42 U.S. Code § 1983, civil action for deprivation of rights, Eyewitness Identification, Evidence - Failure to Disclose.
- Michigan Supreme Court Holds Miranda Waiver Invalid Where LSD-Intoxicated, Hospitalized Defendant Lacked Capacity to Understand Rights Read to Him, Aug. 1, 2026. New Trial/Judgment of Acquittal, Witnesses - Prior Statements/Testimony, Evidence - Failure to Disclose, Brady/Giglio/Jencks Act Issues, Exculpatory Evidence - Disclosure Obligations.
- New Jersey Supreme Court Announces Brady and Carter Materiality Standards Differ, Holding Carter’s “Probably Change the Jury’s Verdict” Test for New Trial More Stringent Than Brady’s “Reasonable Probability” Standard, Aug. 1, 2026. New Trial/Judgment of Acquittal, Failure to Disclose, Evidence - Failure to Disclose, Brady/Giglio/Jencks Act Issues, Withholding of Exculpatory Evidence.
- SCOTUS Holds Federal Habeas Court May Not Consider Post-Trial DNA Evidence That Was Never Presented to Jury When Assessing Whether False Informant Testimony Influenced Verdict, July 1, 2026. AEDPA, Perjury/Perjured Testimony, Evidence - Failure to Disclose, Brady/Giglio/Jencks Act Issues, Withholding of Exculpatory Evidence.
- FTC Substantiates Allegations Against ViaPath Related to Data Breach and Orders Remedial Action, June 1, 2026. Contractor Misconduct, Trust Accounts, Telephone Monitoring, Deliberate Indifference, Global Tel*Link Corp.
- New York Prisoner, Paroled After 25 Years, Exonerated of Crime, June 1, 2026. Wrongful Conviction, Wrongful Imprisonment, Evidence - Failure to Disclose, Prosecutorial Threats, Brady/Giglio/Jencks Act Issues.
- Connecticut Supreme Court Announces Extension of Brady Obligations to Same-Office Impeachment Evidence, May 1, 2026. Perjury/Perjured Testimony, Evidence - Failure to Disclose, Constructive/Imputed/Presumed knowledge, Brady/Giglio/Jencks Act Issues, Exculpatory Evidence - Disclosure Obligations.
- Jury Returns Record $80 Million Verdict for Wrongful Conviction Based on DA Misconduct, Dec. 15, 2025. Monell Liability, False Imprisonment, Perjury/Perjured Testimony, Evidence - Failure to Disclose, Improper Comments.
- Police AI and “Sycophancy”: New Evidence Tools May Tell Cops Exactly What They Want to Hear, Dec. 15, 2025. junk science, Police State-Surveillance, Evidence - Integrity/Reliability of, Evidence - Failure to Disclose, Exculpatory Evidence - Disclosure Obligations.
- DOJ Settles With Orange County Over Use of “Jailhouse Snitches”, Dec. 1, 2025. Informants, Sixth Amendment, Confessions - Admissibility, Evidence - Failure to Disclose, Pleas Linked to Cooperation.

