Alabama House passes Aniah’s Law expansion

The Alabama House of Representatives passed a constitutional amendment Tuesday that would expand the number of crimes where a judge may deny bond under Aniah’s Law.

SB 118, sponsored by Sen. Will Barfoot, R-Pike Road, expands the list of crimes that will not be eligible for bond to solicitation, attempt and conspiracy to commit murder; and discharging a weapon into an occupied dwelling. Alabama voters approved the original law in 2022.

“This is up to the judge to make the determination, it is not automatic,” said Rep. Matt Simpson, R-Daphne, who carried the legislation in the House.

Prior to approval of Aniah’s Law, judges could only deny bond to individuals charged with capital murder. The amendment expanded that to include other serious crimes such as murder, kidnapping and rape.

The amendment was named after Aniah Blanchard, a Southern Union Community College student who went missing in October 2019 and whose body was found a month later. Ibraheem Yazeed, who was charged with capital murder in Blanchard’s death, had been charged with several violent crimes but released on bail months before Blanchard was killed. Yazeed is still awaiting trial.

Aniah’s Law allows prosecutors to request a hearing to determine if a defendant should be denied bond for committing a violent Class A felony such as rape and murder. But judges may still grant bond after hearing prosecution’s claims.

The bill passed 87-0 with 16 abstentions. The constitutional amendment must be approved by Alabama voters. 

The House also passed SB 119, also sponsored by Barfoot, that makes discharging a weapon into an occupied dwelling a Class A felony, up from a Class B felony. That is punishable by 10-99 years in prison and fines up to $60,000. 

Simpson said that most of those crimes come from people using a firearm modified with a Glock switch, which the Legislature banned earlier this session. 

“You can’t control what it does. You can maybe have a grasp over the first bullet that comes out, but the gun just goes off,” Simpson said.

The bill passed 66-0 with 37 abstentions. It will go to voters for approval.