Alabama House passes bill eliminating youthful offender status for intentional murder
Rep. Phillip Pettus, R-Killen speaks at the podium in the Alabama House of Representatives chamber, Feb. 25, 2025. Pettus sponsors a bill that would require courts to prosecute people younger than 21 as adults when they are charged with murder.(Photo/Stew Milne for the Alabama Reflector)
The Alabama House of Representatives Tuesday approved legislation that would require courts to prosecute people 16 or older as adults when charged with murder.
HB 146, sponsored by Rep. Phillip Pettus, R-Killen, passed 67-33, with several Republicans joining all the chamber's Democrats in opposing the measure.
Pettus' bill would prevent judges from granting youthful offender status to anyone 16 or older facing a murder charge. Currently judges may grant youthful offender status for anyone under the age of 19.
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The sponsor cited a case where a man charged with killing his ex-girlfriend was granted youthful offender status. Under youthful offender status, people convicted of murder serve a maximum of three years in prison, regardless of severity.
'There was a case where the judge made a bad decision, and he finally went back on it. This is to keep that from happening,' Pettus said.
Rep. Jim Hill, R-Odenville, a former judge, said the legislation would take away judicial discretion.
'I'm just opposed to removing judicial discretion,' Hill said. 'We don't want judges making the law from the bench.'
Rep. Prince Chestnut, D-Selma, said the bill would create 'cookie cutter justice' and the legislation should have gone through the chamber's judiciary committees, instead of the Public Safety and Homeland Security committees.
'To strip, cold turkey, discretion away from judges, I just think we're going down a very, very dangerous road by doing this,' Chestnut said. 'We're going to get cookie cuter justice across this state and it's not going to be good for the defendants or the victims.'
Rep. Pebblin Warren, D-Tuskegee, said minors should be given a second chance.
'I can't help but think about some juveniles I've worked with and counseled. In dealing with these kids, most of their actions are done with ego and at the moment,' Warren said. 'They have an opportunity to go back and rethink what they've done.'
Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, offered an amendment that would limit the legislation to apply only to those charged with intentional murder.
'This would limit the number of folks that were involved in the initial confrontation or incident to the person that was actually killing the other person,' England said.
The amendment was adopted 99-0. The bill moves to the Senate.
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