HB218 Alabama 2014 Session

Summary

Primary Sponsor

Lynn Greer

Republican

Co-Sponsors

Joe FaustDonnie ChesteenTerri CollinsMac McCutcheonKurt WallacePhil WilliamsAlan BakerBarry MooreMike HillK.L. BrownMark TuggleHoward SanderfordMary Sue McClurkinRichard BaughnTodd GreesonJim PattersonDuwayne BridgesDickie DrakeDavid SessionsRandy WoodWes LongMike MillicanSteve McMillanPaul DeMarcoDan WilliamsKen JohnsonAlan HarperPaul W. LeeMack N. ButlerEd HenryWilliam RobertsMicky HammonSteve ClouseSteve HurstRichard J. Laird

Session

Regular Session 2014

Title

Criminal procedure, new classes of capital offense, Secs. 13A-5-40, 13A-5-49 am'd.

Summary

HB218 would expand Alabama’s enumerated capital offenses to include several new murder scenarios and add new aggravating factors for capital sentencing.

What This Bill Does

It adds murder of prosecutors to the list of enumerated capital offenses and extends protection to certain law enforcement families, school campuses, and daycare settings by making their murders capital offenses. It also covers murders of jurors or associated family members to avenge or intimidate, and murders of victims under protective orders. The bill introduces additional aggravating factors to guide death-penalty decisions, such as prior violent offenses, crimes committed in the line of duty, and killings involving multiple victims or special purposes. It becomes law after passage and governor approval, and it is treated as exempt from certain local-funding rules because it creates or amends crimes.

Who It Affects

• Prospective victims and communities (prosecutors, law enforcement officers and public officials, and their family members; jurors; students and staff at schools; children in day care; victims protected by orders) because more killings would be treated as capital offenses and could lead to death-penalty cases.
• Defendants and the criminal-justice system (people who commit these offenses; prosecutors, judges, and law enforcement administrators; and local governments) because offenses could carry capital punishment and sentencing would rely on new aggravating factors; local-government budgets may be affected, though the bill is exempt from some funding rules.

Key Provisions

• Prosecutors are added to the category of law enforcement, and murder of a prosecutor becomes an enumerated capital offense.
• Murder of a family member of law enforcement or a public official to avenge, intimidate, or retaliate becomes an enumerated capital offense.
• Murder on the campus of a school or in a daycare/licensed child care facility becomes an enumerated capital offense.
• Murder of a victim, juror, or associated family member to avenge, intimidate, or retaliate becomes an enumerated capital offense.
• Murder under a Protection From Abuse Order becomes an enumerated capital offense, and murder of a family member of law enforcement or public officials to avenge or intimidate is included.
• Aggravating circumstances are expanded (e.g., on-duty killings, prior capital or violent felonies, killings of multiple people, killings for pecuniary gain, and killings of law enforcement officers in the line of duty).
• The bill clarifies how capital offenses relate to existing murder definitions and allows for lesser included offenses under certain conditions.

AI-generated summary using openai/gpt-5-nano on Feb 24, 2026. May contain errors — refer to the official bill text for accuracy.

Subjects

Crimes and Offenses