In a let­ter cit­ing polit­i­cal manip­u­la­tion of the death penal­ty by the state’s chief pros­e­cu­tor, 41 mem­bers of Alabama’s District Attorneys Association called on Attorney General Troy King to apol­o­gize to Shelby County District Attorney Robby Owens (pic­tured). King has said that Owens ​“shirked” his duties when he expressed con­cerns in a court hear­ing about the fair­ness of an inmate’s death sen­tence. ​“If he can­not rec­og­nize the error of his need­less attack on the dis­trict attor­ney, per­haps he should con­sid­er his fit­ness for the posi­tion he now holds,” the asso­ci­a­tion said in a state­ment issued dur­ing a news con­fer­ence in Montgomery. Russell County District Attorney Kenneth Davis, who heads the DA’s Association, said that Owens ​“has been unfair­ly and unnec­es­sar­i­ly attacked by the attor­ney gen­er­al” for doing what he was moral­ly bound to do in seek­ing equal jus­tice. Davis not­ed that by attack­ing Owens, ​“the attor­ney gen­er­al has attacked all of us.”

The dis­pute with King stems from Owens’ tes­ti­mo­ny in the case of LaSamuel Gamble. Owens tes­ti­fied that it would be dis­pro­por­tion­ate to exe­cute Gamble for killing two peo­ple more than a decade ago in light of the fact that his co-defen­dant, and the crime’s trig­ger­man, Marcus Presley, had his death sen­tence reduced to life under the U.S. Supreme Court rul­ing that out­lawed the death penal­ty for juve­nile offend­ers. Earlier this month, Shelby County Circuit Judge J. Michael Joiner agreed and ordered a new sen­tenc­ing hear­ing for Gamble. After the rul­ing, King announced he will appeal Judge Joiner’s rul­ing and is tak­ing the case away from Owens.

The District Attorneys Association says that King’s deci­sion was polit­i­cal­ly moti­vat­ed, stat­ing that King took over the case in retal­i­a­tion for Owens not sup­port­ing his 2006 Attorney General elec­tion bid. King and Owens are both Republicans, but Owens endorsed Democrat John Tyson in the race. ​“I want him to be the attor­ney gen­er­al and leave pol­i­tics at home,” Owens said dur­ing the news con­fer­ence. Tyson added, ​“I had hoped at some point (King) would grow up.”
(Associated Press, September 18, 2007). See Arbitrariness, Juveniles, and New Voices.

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