Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall voiced his support Monday morning for Aniah's Law, a constitutional amendment allowing judges to deny bonds to certain criminals.
The fate of the proposed amendment, also known as Amendment 1, will be left up to Alabama voters on Tuesday to decide.
The proposed amendment is named after Aniah Blanchard, a Birmingham native and student at Southern Union State Community College who was killed in 2019 after she was abducted from a gas station by a man who was out on bond, despite being charged with other violent crimes, including kidnapping.
The amendment, if passed, would allow judges to deny bail specifically for murder, sexual torture, terrorism and aggravated child abuse of a child under the age of six, as well as first-degree rape, kidnapping, sodomy, domestic violence, human trafficking, burglary, arson and robbery.
In October, the mayors of Alabama's largest cities announced their support for the prospective law, which the Alabama Legislature approved in the 2022 regular session. State Rep. Chip Brown (R-Mobile) also voiced support for the amendment.
Marshall is the latest to get behind the effort.
"Aniah's case was a terrible tragedy that drew national attention," Marshall said in a video posted to his Facebook page. "But I'm here to tell you that hers is not the first case of this kind and it won't be the last. That's why we need Aniah's law."
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