A bill that would remove the ability for people under 21 who are charged with murder to apply for youthful offender passed the Alabama House of Representatives on Tuesday.
HB146, sponsored by Rep. Phillip Pettus, R-Killen, would take away discretion for judges in applying youthful offender status to cases if the charge is for capital murder.
Rep. Jim Hill, R-Moody opposed the bill. He expressed concerns about removing a judge’s discretion in the individual cases before him, saying this bill was “eroding the ability of the court to make the decisions that it needs to make.”
“I’m absolutely going to oppose, and do oppose, any bill that comes down here that removes discretion from our judges,” Hill said.
Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, offered an amendment that narrowed the bill’s scope, which originally applied to all murder charges, to only intentional murder. The amendment was adopted on the floor.
Under the amendment, judges could still grant youthful offender status on some categories, such as cases in which the defendant is charged with causing death by reckless conduct or extreme indifference to human life.
England explained that the way the bill was previously read, others could become entangled in someone else’s actions without any prior knowledge a crime would be committed. By simply being in the car with someone who fires outside the car, passengers could face a charge of murder.
“This would mean that it would limit the number of folks that were involved in that initial confrontation or incident to the person that was actually, intentionally murdering or killing the other person. Not everybody, just the person who was most culpable,” said England.
Rep. Prince Chestnut, D-Selma, said that removing discretion from judges, even in this very limited scope, could lead to further restrictions on the judiciary branch.
“To just strip, cold turkey, discretion away from judges, I just think we’re going down a very dangerous road by doing this. We’re going to get cookie-cutter justice across the state, and it’s not going to be good for the defendants or the victims when you do it that way,” said Chestnut.
The bill passed by a vote of 67-33 with 21 members electing to cosponsor the bill. It moves to the Senate.
