Alabama

Most Alabama counties refuse gay-marriage licenses after defiant order by state chief justice

Probate judges in most Alabama counties refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples on Monday, a day after the state’s chief justice ordered the judges to ignore a federal judge’s decision striking down the state’s ban on gay marriage. As many as 52 of the state’s 67 counties refused…

Feb 10, 2015 8:00 AM CST

Alabama chief justice orders probate judges not to marry gay couples; is it ‘a George Wallace move’?

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has ordered the state’s probate judges not to issue marriage licenses to gay couples on Monday when a federal court ruling striking down the state’s ban on gay marriage takes effect. In the order issued on Sunday night, Moore declares that federal court opinions serve…

Feb 9, 2015 7:21 AM CST

Announcement of new Harper Lee book stirs excitement and ‘a whiff of controversy’

Harper Lee’s decision to publish a second book 55 years after publication of To Kill a Mockingbird was news to her editor at HarperCollins. Hugh Van Dusen, who oversaw a 35th anniversary edition of Mockingbird in 1995, tells Vulture in a Q and A that he first learned the book…

Feb 5, 2015 5:45 AM CST

Complaint targets Alabama chief justice’s vow to fight ‘tyranny’ of gay-marriage rulings

A group that fought Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore over his courthouse installation of a Ten Commandments monument has filed an ethics complaint over his vow to fight the “tyranny” of gay-marriage rulings. In a Jan. 27 letter to Alabama’s governor, Moore wrote that a federal court ruling striking down…

Jan 29, 2015 7:13 AM CST

Alabama chief justice: Federal ruling on gay marriage doesn’t bind state judges

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore claims in a letter to the governor that a federal court ruling striking down the state’s gay-marriage ban doesn’t bind Alabama judges. Moore’s letter (PDF) to Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley said he stood with the governor “to stop judicial tyranny and any unlawful opinions issued…

Jan 28, 2015 7:17 AM CST

Alabama woman gets 219-year prison sentence for role in child sex ring

An Alabama woman has been sentenced to 219 years in prison for her involvement in a child sex ring. Wendy Holland, 35, was convicted last month on sodomy, sexual abuse and other charges, the Associated Press reports. Holland was part of a group of relatives and friends accused of molesting…

Jan 16, 2015 4:25 PM CST

Bradley Arant to open first Florida office with acquisition of smaller firm

A major Southeastern regional law firm is opening its first office in Florida, with the acquisition of a 12-attorney Tampa firm. Alabama-based Bradley Arant Boult Cummings will operate in Tampa out of the offices of Glenn Rasmussen, which will be Bradley Arant’s eighth location, reports Alabama.com. The 460-attorney firm also…

Jan 15, 2015 2:50 PM CST

Lawyer faces felony charge over claimed threat to state trooper during traffic court hearing

A 62-year-old Alabama attorney had his mugshot taken while wearing a business suit and tie on Wednesday after being charged with making a terroristic threat to a state trooper during a traffic court appearance in Etowah County district court last week. The charge against Frank Wayne Bailey is a felony.…

Jan 14, 2015 4:35 PM CST

Assault suit against coach Nick Saban’s daughter reinstated; trial judge had cited stand your ground

The Alabama Supreme Court has reinstated a civil assault-and-battery suit against Kristen Saban, the daughter of University of Alabama head football coach Nick Saban, stemming from a physical altercation with a sorority sister. The court found in its opinion (PDF) that material issues of fact had not been resolved, and…

Dec 16, 2014 6:15 AM CST

Want to be the next Miss America? Then you might want to hire this lawyer

Bill Alverson has been practicing law in the small town of Andalusia, Alabama, for nearly a quarter of a century. Together with his son, William Alverson, they run a law practice that handles everything from personal injury matters to divorces and wills.

Dec 1, 2014 5:40 AM CST

Woman sues prosecutor and wife for defamation, says he sought nude photos, wife lied to protect him

A woman has filed a defamation suit against a former Alabama municipal prosecutor and his wife, contending that he abused his position by contacting her and seeking nude photos, and that his wife lied to protect him. The Coffee County Circuit Court suit filed by Sherry McCormick also seeks damages…

Nov 26, 2014 11:10 AM CST

Jurors recommend death penalty in lawyer’s death one day after defendant is convicted

A former U.S. Marine should be put to death for the murder of an Alabama lawyer, jurors recommended on Thursday. Jurors convicted Ocie Lee Lynch of Birmingham, Alabama, on Wednesday and recommended the death penalty on Thursday in a 10-2 vote, the Daily Home reports. Lynch was convicted in the…

Nov 21, 2014 8:13 AM CST

Alabama lawyer’s slaying was a contract killing, alleged go-between testifies

An Alabama man offered to pay $45,000 for the murder of Talladega County lawyer Blake Lazenby, according to testimony by the man who says he acted as a go-between for the man soliciting the killing and the two men hired to do the job. Lazenby was shot and killed at…

Nov 19, 2014 11:31 AM CST

Attorney Alice Lee, sister of famed ‘Mockingbird’ author, dies at age 103

Alice Lee, reportedly the oldest practicing lawyer in Alabama until recently and the sister of famed author Harper Lee, died Monday after “her heart wore out,” according to a local minister. She was 103 years old. Lee, who began practice in the 1940s in their father’s law office, still was…

Nov 19, 2014 5:45 AM CST

Lawyer accused of faking case numbers, defendants and work to get paid $328K is guilty of theft

A suspended Alabama attorney was convicted of theft Tuesday, The case concerned 246 false declarations the state said Rodney Stallings filed to obtain $328,246 he was not owed for purportedly representing indigent defendants between 2006 and 2012. Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange said Stallings didn’t appear at all in some…

Nov 6, 2014 11:30 AM CST