14 October 2020 :

The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals has vacated the death sentence imposed on Heather Keaton, ruling that the trial court had failed to provide her an opportunity to make a statement to the court before it determined whether to accept the jury’s non-unanimous recommendation to sentence her to death. The court returned the case to the Mobile County trial court to permit Keaton to allocate — provide a statement not subject to cross-examination — before the judge imposes sentence. Keaton and her common-law husband, John DeBlase, were sentenced to death in 2015 for the murder of DeBlase’s two children. She was one of five women on Alabama’s death row and the first woman ever sentenced to death in Mobile County. The court sentenced her to death following an 11-1 jury sentencing recommendation. Alabama is the only state in the country that permits a judge to impose the death penalty based upon a non-unanimous jury vote. Only California (21) and Texas (6) have more women on death row. Hands off Cain wrote on the Keaton case on June 2 and August 20, 2015.

https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/stories/capital-case-roundup-death-penalty-court-decisions-the-week-of-october-5-2020