| The Alabama District Attorney's Association issued a pretty stern press release this morning calling on Attorney General Troy King to apologize to Shelby County District Attorney Robby Owens for taking him off a capitol murder case and attacking him in the media. District Attorney Robby Owens and Attorney General Troy King once publicly agreed on the very issue that brings us to this point. But because of his inexperience in the criminal justice system, the Attorney General of the State of Alabama has taken the unusual and, in this case, unnecessary, vindictive and hypocritical step of publicly chastising one of our most experienced district attorneys for doing what a district attorney is ethically charged with doing--seeking justice. The role of a district attorney--to serve as a minister of justice--is clear, and by attacking the role of this particular district attorney in performing this role, he has attacked us all.
According to the Birmingham News, King then issued a rather dramatic statement saying the DA's have distorted the facts of the case. In part: "Mr. Owens and the District Attorneys supporting his actions can try to distort and spin this issue from now until eternity and it won't change the facts: the fact is that, when I have argued for the death sentence in the courts of Alabama, I have unflinchingly sought and won appropriate punishments."
The District Attorney's Association has scheduled a press conference at 3:30 today. King may find that he's got a tiger by the tail if Alabama's career prosecuters stick together. An Attorney General who can't get cooperation from District Attorneys (who are elected, not appointed) will have a tough row to hoe. Update, 4 pm: The Alabama Association of District Attorney's has issued a second statement, emphasis mine: Yet, it is for this act of mental valor that the Attorney General has seen fit to wrongfully lash out at this respected district attorney who has been prosecuting criminals most of his adult life. This Attorney General, not having one time stood in the pit, in front of a jury and judge, in the presence of a victim's and defendant's family members, in front of his God, to ask that a life be taken, now feels qualified to declare that a prosecutor who has done so many, many times has now "shirked" his responsibility and is in league with the murderer himself. To publicly assert that District Attorney Owens was in anyway deficient in his responsibilities to his constituents and the victims' families is unfair, disingenuous and, quite frankly, sickening. ... The Attorney General, whatever his motivations in choosing to disparage the good name and character of Robby Owens, should apologize to his learned colleague and learn something from him about making hard decisions and effective public service. 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.
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