In an appearance on Huntsville’s WVNN on Monday, State Sen. Greg Albritton (R-Atmore) made the argument for his ethics bill, which has been a subject of controversy over the past week.
Albritton’s proposal has the backing of State Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh (R-Anniston) and others. However, it does not have the support of Attorney General Steve Marshall.
Marshall has publicly expressed his disagreement with Albritton’s bill. The Escambia County Republican argued that Marshall’s proposal did not grant reasonable doubt, but what he said was almost to the point of “strict liability.”
“Look, he and I have talked about this,” Albritton said on “The Jeff Poor Show.” “Others have discussed it as proxies and such. Frankly, Jeff, there is just a disagreement between Attorney General Marshall and myself – not just me, and others. As to the direction we’re taking, alright: The Attorney General does want a more lower level of proof than reasonable doubt. He wants a lower level, almost to strict liability of a crime in some cases be Class B felonies.”
“I just don’t buy that,” he continued. “I don’t think any crime that where you have a liability of a 20-year sentence should be less than reasonable doubt, that should be less than that you have actual evidence of wrongdoing – intentional wrongdoing. If you have something less than that, you got into an area that is problematic for the whole system. Now I’m not trying to harm anything, but I am trying to be consistent when you have a crime.”
Albritton said that despite State Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Cam Ward’s (R-Alabaster) proclamation the bill would not make out of his committee this session, the bill was still alive given the “legislative process was an amazing animal with all kinds of different types of turns and twists.”
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University, the editor of Breitbart TV and host of “The Jeff Poor Show” from 2-5 p.m. on WVNN in Huntsville.
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