Toforest Onesha Johnson (born February 8, 1973)[1] is an American man on death row for the 1995 murder of Jefferson County deputy sheriff William G. Hardy in Alabama.

[11] Johnson's story is the subject of a critically acclaimed[12] eight-episode investigative podcast, Earwitness, by Alabama-based journalist Beth Shelburne.

[13] Currently, Johnson remains on death row at the Holman Correctional Facility and his execution date has yet to be scheduled.

[16] His daughter Akeriya Terry made a series of videos on Instagram sharing her experience growing up and living with her father being sentenced to death.

[17] Johnson's oldest daughter, Shanaye Poole, has also spoken out about her family's advocacy on behalf of her father.

"[19] On July 19, 1995, between 12:30 a.m. and 1:00 a.m., a 49-year-old off-duty deputy sheriff, William G. Hardy, was murdered outside a hotel in Birmingham, Alabama.

Several guests of the hotel, including Larry Osborne and Annie Colvin (who later became trial witnesses), testified that they were awakened by gunshot sounds that night.

On his way, he passed a table in the atrium where Hardy frequently sat, noticing the deputy's radio, a cup of coffee, and a cigarette still smoldering in an ashtray.

When Rushakoff reached the glass doors at the rear of the hotel, he discovered Hardy's body in the parking lot.

In the car were four African-American people (two men and two women), one of whom was 22-year-old Toforest Johnson and another was his 21-year-old paraplegic friend Ardragus Ford, while the other two were Latanya Henderson and Yolanda Chambers.

The four men were all charged with capital murder, an offense that carries either life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, or the death penalty under Alabama state law.

[26] Two years later, Toforest Johnson and Ardragus Ford faced separate trials for Hardy's murder, while prosecutors dropped all charges against both Omar Berry and Quintez Wilson.

[40] On December 16, 2022, the Alabama Supreme Court denied Johnson's petition for review and declined to hear the case.

[44] On November 14, 2024, Johnson filed a new petition to the Jefferson County Circuit Court for a fresh review of his case.

[45] Over the years while he was incarcerated on death row, Toforest Johnson's case has become controversial due to the fact that an increasing number of prominent legal figures in Alabama believe that he is innocent or at least should be entitled to a new trial.

Because no physical evidence or eyewitness testimony links Johnson to the murder, the State's case at trial relied on Ellison's credibility.

[52] In Episode 5 of the Earwitness podcast, host Beth Shelburne "walks listeners through one of the most shocking aspects of this case: in five different court proceedings, prosecutors presented five different, mutually exclusive theories about how Deputy Hardy was killed.

[54] The case of Johnson also garnered rare significant support from legal professionals, who expressed concerns that he was possibly innocent of the crime.

Although Carr expressed no stance on whether Johnson was innocent or not, he identified several concerns, including that prosecutors “presented as many as five different theories relative to who shot Deputy Hardy.” Carr also noted the alibi witnesses who remembered seeing Johnson at the time Deputy Hardy was killed.

[56] In May 2024, the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office filed a more extensive report outlining its review of the integrity of Johnson's conviction.

He now firmly believes, in light of information about which he was unaware at the time he prosecuted this case, that Johnson should receive a new trial.

The District Attorney's Office summarized its findings as follows:The conclusion that Johnson’s conviction is fundamentally unreliable is not based on any one fact.

[59]  The District Attorney's public support for Johnson's conviction to be overturned was followed by a public statement from former Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley, who reviewed Johnson's case and determined that "an innocent man is trapped on Alabama's death row.

[61] In March 2021, seven different groups of lawyers, former judges and prosecutors, faith leaders, and legal scholars submitted amicus briefs in support of a new trial for Johnson.

[67][68] In July 2022, Greater Birmingham Ministries (GBM) hung a large banner in support of Johnson outside the World Games at Protective Stadium with the message that "It is not too late to fix this mistake," and a QR code leading to an advocacy website.

[15] In August 2024, GBM erected a billboard in downtown Birmingham, asking "How did an innocent man end up on Alabama's death row?

In February 2025, Sir Richard Branson used his social media accounts to draw attention to Johnson's case.

Branson wrote on Instagram that "[a]n innocent man has been on Alabama's death row for over 26 years, but there is still time to fix this tragic mistake."

[71] In September 2023, Lava for Good released an eight-episode podcast series called Earwitness, about Johnson's case.

[73] In November 2023, the nonprofit investigative radio show "Reveal" devoted an entire episode to Johnson's case.