Following a deadly shooting in Montgomery after a historically black college and university (HBCU) football game, State Rep. Matt Simpson (R-Daphne) is once again pushing to make it a capital offense to murder an individual while "knowingly creating a great risk of death to multiple persons."
Simpson, who first introduced House Bill 20 last session with the goal of increasing accountability for such offenders, spoke to 1819 News about the urgency of passing a bill to address the issue.
The lawmaker called gun violence a "pattern" in some of the state's largest cities.
"It's not just the Montgomery shooting," he said. "We had a shooting in Mobile yesterday where somebody pulled out a gun and fired and killed somebody in the middle of a dance recital. There's a number of attacks that have also gone on in our area. We had a shooting in Baldwin County at Mayday Park."
Simpson also pointed to a shooting in New Orleans and another in Mobile as additional examples of why changes to the law are needed.
"You look across the country, and you see the New Orleans shooting that happened right around New Year's. Because he only killed one person, we wouldn't be able to charge him with capital murder in Alabama," Simpson explained. "You think about the situation in Mobile again with the New Year's Eve shooting that occurred, where only one person died, so he couldn't be charged with capital murder because only one person died."
According to the lawmaker, local law enforcement had reached out, asking if there was a legislative solution to the issue.
"Sheriff Hoss Mack, who's now the executive director of the Sheriff's Association, reached out and said, 'Hey, we need to do something about this. Can we do something?' And we gave a press conference back then in June about it," he said.
Simpson then referenced the Molotov cocktail attack on a Jewish center in Colorado that killed a single individual while wounding and putting others in harm's way. The case, according to Simpson, is a clear example of why the charge of capital murder in such situations is necessary.
"You talk about some of the stuff that happened with the Jewish center in Colorado, where the guy threw the Molotov cocktail, and one person died, but several people were injured," Simpson outlined. "Under our statute, you couldn't charge him with capital murder in that case because there's only one person that died."
"That should be capital murder in my opinion," he continued. "It shouldn't be just whether there were two people that died."
"It should be the danger that you put multiple people in," Simpson added.
Simpson is not alone in his push to change state law on the issue. State. Sen Clyde Chambliss (R-Prattville) is championing the cause in the upper chamber.
"Every life is precious," Chambliss told 1819 News. "I'm saddened at the decline in the value of life. This is senseless and has to stop."
"Swift and severe punishment will go a long way in deterring these heinous acts of violence. I'm working with Representative Simpson in his ongoing effort to help make sure that these increased penalties become law," he added.
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