Gov. Robert Bentley announced Friday that Marshall County District Attorney Steve Marshall will take over as Alabama’s attorney general, filling the office made vacant by his appointment of Luther Strange to the U.S. Senate on Feb. 9.
“Steve is a well-respected district attorney with impeccable credentials and strong conservative values,” Bentley said. “I know he will be a great attorney general who will uphold the laws of this state and serve the people of Alabama with fairness. Steve has been instrumental in key legislation to protect Alabamians when it comes to opioid abuse, and I know he will continue to uphold the law as he serves as the state’s top law enforcement official.”
Marshall is a native of Atmore and a 1990 graduate of the University of Alabama School of Law. He has served as district attorney for the 27th Judicial Circuit of Alabama, comprised solely of Marshall County, since he was appointed in 2001. He was subsequently re-elected in 2004, 2010 and 2016.
Previously, he formed the law firm McLaughlin & Marshall in 1995 with Jeffrey McLaughlin.
“It is a great honor to be named attorney general, and I am thankful to Gov. Bentley for the opportunity to serve the people of Alabama,” Marshall said Friday. “The time spent working alongside law enforcement for the last 20 years has been a remarkable privilege. As attorney general, we will continue to support their efforts to keep Alabamians safe and free from violent crime.”
In addition to Marshall, Bentley also interviewed state Board of Education member Mary Scott Hunter; acting Attorney General Alice Martin; Fayette County District Attorney Chris McCool; former state Sen. Bryan Taylor; state Sen. Cam Ward; state Sen. Tom Whatley; and state Sen. Phil Williams.
Marshall’s appointment is the latest in the past week’s ever-growing chain of seat-filling.
On Feb. 8, Jeff Sessions, then U.S. senator, was confirmed by the Senate as the U.S. attorney general. Strange was chosen by Bentley to fill Sessions’ seat in the Senate on Feb. 9, giving Bentley the opportunity to appoint a replacement Alabama attorney general.
In April of 2016, after Bentley admitted to sexual misconduct with his longtime aide Rebeckah Caldwell Mason, 23 Alabama legislators signed a resolution to impeach the governor. They planned to charge him with willful neglect of duty, corruption, incompetence and “offenses of moral turpitude.”
The Alabama House Judiciary Committee then began an investigation into whether there were grounds for impeachment.
In early November, Strange, then attorney general, wrote the committee recommending it cease its investigation, saying it could “intersect” with “necessary related work” of his office.
Spencer Collier, former Alabama Law Enforcement Agency secretary, accused Bentley of using state funds to maintain his relationship with Mason. Bentley fired Collier after accusing him of misusing state funds.
The attorney general’s office later announced Collier had been cleared of wrongdoing by a Montgomery grand jury.
The scope of the attorney general’s investigation under Strange still remains unclear, as well as the status of it going forward.
Marshall’s new seat will be up for election in 2018.
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