Lynneice O. Washington | |
---|---|
Deputy District Attorney of Jefferson County, Alabama, Bessemer Division | |
Assumed office January 16, 2017 | |
Preceded by | Bill Veitch |
Presiding Judge of the Bessemer Municipal Court | |
In office February,2011 –December,2016 | |
Personal details | |
Born | [1] Birmingham,Alabama | December 27,1967
Political party | Democratic |
Alma mater | Auburn University at Montgomery (BA) Miles College (JD) |
Lynneice Washington is an American lawyer. In 2016,she was elected deputy district attorney assigned to the Bessemer Cutoff District (Alabama) of the 10th Judicial Circuit. She is the first black woman deputy district attorney in the state of Alabama. [2]
Washington was born in Birmingham,Alabama,and graduated from A. H. Parker High School. [3] Early on,she was interested in criminal justice,and despite her mother's attempts to persuade her to become a nurse or a teacher,she set her sights on going to law school. Being a lawyer "just wasn't one of those things that a lot of black people,particularly in our family,had as a career path," Washington said. "My mother looked at that like an impossibility." [4] She graduated from Auburn University at Montgomery and Miles Law School before working as a Defense Attorney. [3]
In 2010,during a campaign for a district judgeship,Washington was diagnosed with Breast cancer. She had resigned from a previous position as Assistant District Attorney in order to focus on the campaign. She recovered and is now a breast cancer survivor,but lost the election. In February 2011,she was appointed presiding judge over the Bessemer District Municipal Court. [4] Washington ran in 2016 and won the November General Election on the Democratic Party ticket for the Jefferson County Bessemer Cutoff District by only 299 votes,beating her opponent,Bill Veitch,the incumbent District Attorney who ran on the Republican Party ticket. [2]
DA Washington is opposed to the death penalty,and campaigned on that issue. After being elected,she told Vice.com that "Among other initiatives,she plans to beef up the convictions integrity unit that probes possible wrongful convictions,launch a citizen-police advisory board,and divert low-level offenders from prison by creating alternatives to incarceration." [4]
Washington has indicated that she is seeking to end arrests for misdemeanor marijuana offenses. "It is no secret that Jefferson County,like others around the country,is plagued with overcrowded jails," Washington stated in a press release. "Now that the Jefferson County,Bessemer jail is closed for renovations,the need to address overcrowding is even more urgent." [5] Washington has stated that she is working to implement a procedure she calls the "Big Ticket program",under which misdemeanor offenses such as simple marijuana possession,possession of drug paraphernalia and harassment would no longer require an arrest. [5]
In early 2019,Marshae Jones was indicted by a grand jury on charges of manslaughter,after the death of the fetus she was carrying after being shot after an altercation. Jones was accused of starting the altercation which led to the shooting. [6] Washington ceased her attempt to prosecute the case as District Attorney. She said in a news conference:"After viewing the facts of this case and the applicable state law I have determined that it is not in the best interest of justice to pursue prosecution of Ms. Jones on the manslaughter charge for which she was indicted by the grand jury. Therefore,I am dismissing this case and no further legal action will be taken against Ms. Jones in this matter." [6]
Jefferson County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Alabama,located in the central portion of the state. As of the 2020 census,its population was 674,721. Its county seat is Birmingham. Its rapid growth as an industrial city in the 20th century,based on heavy manufacturing in steel and iron,established its dominance. Jefferson County is the central county of the Birmingham-Hoover,AL Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Bessemer is a city in Jefferson County,Alabama,United States and a southwestern suburb of Birmingham. The population was 26,019 at the 2020 census. It is within the Birmingham-Hoover,AL Metropolitan Statistical Area,of which Jefferson County is the center. It developed rapidly as an industrial city in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Larry Paul Langford was an American politician and convicted felon who had a one-term tenure as the mayor of the city of Birmingham,Alabama. At the time of his death,Langford was hospitalized on compassionate release from serving a 15-year federal prison sentence.
James Bonard Fowler was a convicted drug trafficker and an Alabama state trooper,known for fatally shooting civil rights activist Jimmie Lee Jackson on February 18,1965,during a peaceful march by protesters seeking voting rights. Fowler was among police and state troopers who attacked unarmed marchers that night in Marion,Alabama. A grand jury declined to indict him that year. It was not until 2005 that Fowler acknowledged shooting Jackson,a young deacon in the Baptist church,claiming to have acted in self defense. In response to Jackson's death,several days later civil rights leaders initiated the Selma to Montgomery marches as part of their campaign for voting rights. That year Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965,which President Lyndon B. Johnson signed.
Javaris Cortez Crittenton is an American former professional basketball player. During his four year career,Crittenton played for the Los Angeles Lakers,Memphis Grizzlies,and Washington Wizards of the National Basketball Association (NBA),the Zhejiang Lions of the Chinese Basketball Association,and the Dakota Wizards of the NBA D-League. He was previously the starting point guard for the Georgia Tech men's basketball team.
Adger is an unincorporated crossroads community in Jefferson County,Alabama,southwest of Birmingham.
Carole Catlin Smitherman is an American politician and jurist,serving as a Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge. Smitherman served in 2009 as the 31st Mayor of Birmingham,Alabama and spent several years as a member of the City Council before resigning to assume her current judicial position.
John Westley Rogers Jr. is an American politician from the state of Alabama. A member of the Democratic Party,Rogers served in the Alabama House of Representatives,representing the 52nd district.
The Jefferson County Courthouse in Birmingham,Alabama is the main county courthouse of Jefferson County,Alabama. It is the county's sixth main courthouse building,and the third in Birmingham. The cornerstone was laid in 1929,and the building was completed in 1932. The prior courthouse was demolished in 1937. The new courthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
Ralph Delano Cook was a justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama from 1993 to 2001. Governor Jim Folsom Jr. appointed Cook to finish the term of Oscar W. Adams Jr. upon Adams' retirement.
Cannabis in Texas is illegal for recreational use. Possession of up to two ounces is a class B misdemeanor,punishable by up to 180 days in prison and a fine of up to $2000. Several of the state's major municipalities have enacted reforms to apply lesser penalties or limit enforcement,however.
Juandalynn Deleathia "Lee Lee" Givan is an American lawyer and politician. She serves as a Democratic member of the Alabama House of Representatives,where she represents Jefferson County.
On the night of September 6,2018,26-year-old accountant Botham Jean was murdered in Dallas,Texas,by off-duty Dallas Police Department patrol officer Amber Guyger,who entered Jean's apartment and fatally shot him. Guyger,who said that she had entered Jean's apartment believing it was her own and believed Jean to be a burglar,was initially charged with manslaughter. The absence of a murder charge led to protests and accusations of racial bias because Jean—an unarmed black man—was killed in his own home by a white off-duty officer who had apparently disregarded police protocols. On November 30,2018,Guyger was indicted on a charge of murder. On October 1,2019,she was found guilty of murder and was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment the following day. The ruling was upheld on appeal in 2021.
Rolanda Hollis is an American politician. She serves as a Democratic member of the Alabama House of Representatives for the 58th district. She replaced Oliver Robinson in the seat.
Alabama v. Jones was a U.S. legal case that took place in the state of Alabama. The case is notable as the first attempt,at least in the state,to charge a pregnant woman for suffering a miscarriage. The case was of special interest to feminist groups and reproductive rights groups. A grand jury charged her with manslaughter but the prosecutors ultimately dismissed the case.
Atatiana Koquice Jefferson,a 28-year-old black woman,was fatally shot inside her home by a police officer in Fort Worth,Texas,United States,in the early morning of October 12,2019. Police arrived at her home after a neighbor called a non-emergency number,stating that Jefferson's front door was open. Police body camera footage showed officers walking outside the home with flashlights for a few minutes then one officer yells,"Put your hands up! Show me your hands!",while discharging his weapon through a window. Police found a handgun near Jefferson's body,which according to her eight-year-old nephew,she was pointing toward the window before being shot. On October 14,2019,Officer Aaron Dean,the shooter,resigned from the Fort Worth Police Department and was arrested on a murder charge. On December 20,2019,Dean was indicted for murder. Jefferson was black and the officer who shot her is white,prompting news outlets to compare Jefferson's shooting to the September 2018 murder of Botham Jean in nearby Dallas.
The killing of Greg Gunn occurred on the morning of February 25,2016,in Montgomery,Alabama. Gunn,a 58-year-old African-American man,was shot and killed near his home after fleeing from a stop-and-frisk initiated by Aaron Cody Smith,a white police officer. Smith was charged with murder and indicted by a grand jury in 2016. The case came to trial in late 2019 following a change of venue to Ozark,Alabama. Smith was found guilty of manslaughter,and,in January 2020,was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Alvin Leonard Bragg Jr. is an American politician and lawyer who serves as the New York County District Attorney,covering Manhattan. In 2021,he became the first African American elected to that office. Bragg had previously served as Chief Deputy Attorney General of New York and as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York. In 2024,he became the first and only district attorney to secure a conviction of a former United States president.