Help Save a Life: Urge Governor Ivey to Grant Clemency to David Lee Roberts
For Alabama Residents
If you live in Alabama, your voice carries the most weight. Governor Ivey needs to hear directly from the people she was elected to serve. Please take just a moment to sign this clemency letter using the short form below and click submit to send this letter directly to Governor Ivey’s office on behalf of David Lee Roberts. Your name on this letter could help save his life. (Scroll down if you live outside of Alabama)
Dear Governor Ivey,
As an Alabama resident, I’m writing to respectfully urge you to grant clemency to Mr. David Lee Roberts – a severely mentally ill man on death row – and commute his sentence to life without parole.
Mr. Roberts has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar disorder with psychosis, and has suffered from delusions and hallucinations for years. His battle with inherited, generational mental illness is well documented going back to his teens. Experts from the Alabama Department of Corrections have also documented his condition. Executing someone in this state of mental illness raises serious constitutional and moral concerns.
This case is also an outlier. The District Attorney at the time of trial offered Mr. Roberts a plea deal for life without parole—an offer that was not shared with him prior to trial due to failures by his attorney, who was later suspended. A jury also recommended life without parole after hearing all the evidence. But judicial override allowed the judge to impose a death sentence anyway. Because of a bill that you signed into law, this process would not be allowed today.
Granting clemency here would reflect the values of fairness and integrity that Alabama’s justice system is meant to uphold. Life without parole ensures safety, honors the jury’s recommendation, and avoids setting a dangerous precedent of executing the severely mentally ill. We Alabamians are people of strong faith, and you Governor are a leader guided by faith and sworn to justice. I’m asking you to please look at both and find it within yourself to grant clemency to Mr. Roberts.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Do you live outside of Alabama?
We need you too! Let Governor Ivey know that her actions are important on a national, and even global, stage. Please take just a moment to sign this clemency letter using the short form below and click submit to send this letter directly to Governor Ivey’s office on behalf of David Lee Roberts. Your name on this letter could help save his life.
Dear Governor Ivey,
I’m writing to respectfully urge you to grant clemency to Mr. David Lee Roberts – a severely mentally ill man on death row – and commute his sentence to life without parole.
Mr. Roberts has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar disorder with psychosis, and has suffered from delusions and hallucinations for years. His battle with inherited, generational mental illness is well documented going back to his teens. Experts from the Alabama Department of Corrections have also documented his condition. Executing someone in this state of mental illness raises serious constitutional and moral concerns.
This case is also an outlier. The District Attorney at the time of trial offered Mr. Roberts a plea deal for life without parole—an offer that was not shared with him prior to trial due to failures by his attorney, who was later suspended. A jury also recommended life without parole after hearing all the evidence. But judicial override allowed the judge to impose a death sentence anyway. Because of a bill that you signed into law, this process would not be allowed today.
Granting clemency here would reflect the values of fairness and integrity that Alabama’s justice system is meant to uphold. Life without parole ensures safety, honors the jury’s recommendation, and avoids setting a dangerous precedent of executing the severely mentally ill. We Alabamians are people of strong faith, and you Governor are a leader guided by faith and sworn to justice. I’m asking you to please look at both and find it within yourself to grant clemency to Mr. Roberts.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,