Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall

OPELIKA, Ala. (Opelika-Auburn News) — Alabama’s attorney general’s office is investigating a state prosecutor who reported himself on an ethics issue. 

Lee County District Attorney Brandon Hughes said he told the Alabama Ethics Commission about a possible ethics issue months ago. He says when they didn't respond, he stopped the action immediately.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama is asking an appellate court to allow the state to block abortions during the COVID-19 epidemic. 

Attorney General Steve Marshall said the state is appealing to the 11th U.S. Circuit of Appeals seeking to overturn an injunction issued by a federal judge. Alabama argued in court filings that some abortions can be safely postponed as the state tries to conserve medical equipment and fight the spread of the virus.  

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF-TV) — Alumni from an Alabama university have been calling on the state to stop the demolishing of old campus buildings by enforcing a law designed to protect Confederate statues. 

WAFF-TV reports Alabama A&M University alumni have asked the state's Attorney General to stop the university’s plans to destroy several historical campus buildings to make space for new facilities including a $50 million event center. Two buildings have already been destroyed while four remain to be demolished.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has condemned a record level on lethal violence against law enforcement officers in the state.

Seven Alabama law enforcement officers have been shot and killed in the past 13 months.

Speaking at a news conference Wednesday, Marshall deplored the loss of life and said the pattern must end. The Republican attorney general also suggested an anti-law enforcement view was a contributing factor to the uptick in violence.

With an expected medical marijuana proposal approaching next month, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has already objected to putting it into law.

In the Jan. 6 letter to lawmakers, he expressed concerns including parallels with the opioid crisis and the continued federal marijuana ban. Similar legislation failed to pass last year. This year, a state study commission has recommended a new program. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, over 30 states have approved some form of medical marijuana proposal.

Alabama's near-total abortion ban will remain blocked by a federal judge.  

The attorney general's office confirmed the state is not appealing the October injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson. 

The injunction prevented the ban from taking effect Nov. 15 while Thompson hears a lawsuit challenging the ban as unconstitutional.

CULLMAN, Ala. (AP) — Former Alabama Senate Majority Leader Zeb Little has pleaded guilty to theft charges.

Attorney General Steve Marshall's office announced Tuesday that Little entered the guilty plea last week. According to court records, Little, who was a lawyer, admitted to stealing money from clients.

Court records indicate the thefts occurred in 2015 and 2016.

He agreed to pay $74,000 in restitution. A judge has not set a sentencing date.

TUSCUMBIA, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama lawyer has been sentenced to four months in jail for trying to influence a potential juror in a civil case.

News outlets report William J. Underwood pleaded guilty Tuesday to jury tampering as part of a deal in which he was ordered to permanently surrender his license to practice law in Alabama. A statement from the office of Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall says Underwood entered his plea on the morning the case's trial was set to start.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama says U.S. Supreme Court precedent "regrettably requires" a federal judge to block the state's abortion ban from taking effect while a legal challenge plays out in court.

Attorney General Steve Marshall's office in a Monday court filing responded to abortion clinics' request for a preliminary injunction against the ban.

The state said a judge is "for now" bound by Supreme Court rulings, such as Roe. v. Wade, which require the injunction be granted. Alabama called those "tragically wrong" decisions.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Gov. Kay Ivey has named former attorney general Charles Graddick as the new director of the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles.

Ivey made the appointment Friday under a new law that gives her the authority to appoint the director. He will take the position Sept. 1.

Graddick is a former two-term Alabama attorney general and a circuit judge in Mobile County.

Ivey said Graddick has dedicated his life to serving the people of Alabama and protecting the law.

An Alabama law that prohibits cities from removing Confederate monuments will remain in effect while the state appeals a judge's ruling that declared the statute constitutional, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled Friday.  

Justices granted the request of Attorney General Steve Marshall to stay a judge's order striking down the law, Marshall's office announced.

"The Supreme Court's stay allows the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act to remain in effect until the Supreme Court resolves this appeal over the act's constitutionality," Marshall said in a statement.

Republican voters in Alabama are heading to the polls once again to set the final tickets ahead of November's general election.

They'll be taking part in several heated Republican runoffs for statewide office and in the race for a U.S. Congressional seat in south Alabama.

Armed with an endorsement from President Donald Trump, U.S. Rep. Martha Roby is trying to stave off a challenge from former congressman Bobby Bright and a voter backlash over her criticism of Trump during his Presidential campaign.

Monday is the final day to register to vote in the July 17 primary runoffs. 

A number of Republican primaries, including contests for attorney general and lieutenant governor, will be decided in the runoff.

U.S. Representative Martha Roby faces former congressman Bobby Bright in the GOP runoff for the 2nd congressional district.

Attorney General Steve Marshall faces former Attorney General Troy King in the GOP runoff for attorney general.

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging Alabama’s state law requiring people to show government issued photo ID at the polls.

The lawsuit was one of the latest battles between voting rights advocates who say these measures are aimed at suppressing voter turnout and conservative states that argue they’re needed to prevent voter fraud.

Alabama’s Department of Corrections is scheduled to execute 40-year-old Torrey Twane McNabb this evening. But as of now, a stay on that execution remains in place.

Yesterday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the stay to allow for additional proceedings in McNabb’s lawsuit. He and other Alabama death row inmates are challenging the constitutionality of the state’s lethal injection protocol. Specifically, they argue the sedative midazolam can be ineffective, and might not render them unconscious before other drugs stop their lungs and heart.

The state of Alabama is once against petitioning a federal appellate court to allow an execution to proceed – this time for a death row inmate convicted of killing a police officer two decades ago.

Earlier this week, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a stay issued by a federal judge in the case. State attorneys argue there is no reason to block the execution of 40-year-old Torrey Twane McNabb, scheduled for tomorrow.

The Alabama Ethics Commission has found probable cause that a state district court judge in Cullman County has violated the state’s ethics law.

Ethics Commission Executive Director Tom Albritton says Cullman County District Court Judge Kim Chaney appointed his son, who is an attorney, to criminal cases in the district. The state ethics code says, in part, that public officials cannot use their offices to benefit themselves or family members.

Albritton says the commission is referring the matter to Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office.

Birmingham’s next mayor may have a fight on his hands immediately upon taking office in November.

Randall Woodfin may have to find a way to deal with the ongoing controversy over an embattled Confederate monument in Birmingham. The city is facing a lawsuit from the state Attorney General Steve Marshall over the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Linn Park.

The Alabama Memorial Preservation Act that was passed this summer makes it illegal to remove or rename any memorial streets or buildings on public property that have been in place for 40 or more years.

A federal judge has halted the execution of an Alabama inmate just hours before he was to be put to death.Chief U.S. District Judge Keith Watkins on Thursday stayed the execution of 56-year-old Jeffery Lynn  Borden. 

The reprieve came about four hours before Borden was set to be given a lethal injection at a southwest Alabama prison.

Alabama’s Attorney General Steve Marshall has filed lawsuits against several casinos in Alabama, saying they are operating illegal slot machines under the guise of electronic bingo.

Yesterday, Marshall’s office filed lawsuits in five counties seeking to shut down the electronic bingo operations. Marshall says the Alabama Supreme Court has made abundantly clear that the machines are illegal.

The state of Alabama is asking the U.S. Supreme Court for permission to proceed with the execution of a man convicted of killing his estranged wife and father-in-law back in 1993.

Yesterday, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall asked the nation's high court to overturn an injunction currently blocking Thursday's scheduled execution of 56-year-old Jeffery Lynn Borden.

A judge has dropped sex charges against two school employees, saying the state law is overbroad and unconstitutional.

Morgan County Circuit Judge Glenn Thompson dismissed charges against 44-year-old Carrie Witt and 27-year-old David Solomon yesterday. Witt is a former teacher at Decatur High School who was arrested in March 2016 for allegedly having sex with two Decatur High students, one 17 and one 18. Solomon is a former contract teacher at Falkville High School accused of having sex with a 17-year-old Falkville High student.

An inmate once called the "Houdini" of Alabama's death row for escaping seven past execution dates was put to death early this morning for a 1982 contract killing.

Tommy Arthur, 75, was pronounced dead at 12:15 a.m. this morning following a lethal injection, according to correctional authorities said. Arthur was convicted of killing riverboat engineer Troy Wicker, who was fatally shot as he slept in his bed in Muscle Shoals.

Law enforcement officers across the state are learning how to take the fight on crime online.

The Joint Electronic Crimes Task Force is hosting two eight-hour sessions at the University of Alabama’s campus. The free training is the first of its kind in West Alabama, and teaches officers about how to get warrants for electronic data, and how to handle digital forensics evidence.

New State Attorney General Steve Marshall will recuse himself from an investigation of Governor Robert Bentley, the man who appointed him to the job last week.  

The announcement Wednesday is confirmation that the attorney general's office is conducting an investigation related to Bentley.

Marshall, after being sworn in Monday, said he would recuse from any direct investigation involving Bentley. Marshall appointed former Montgomery County district attorney Ellen Brooks to oversee the probe.