Alabama has seen a staggering number of law enforcement deaths in recent years, with over a dozen police officers and sheriff’s deputies shot and killed in the line of duty since 2019 alone. Many more have been critically wounded.

These tragedies are a stark reminder of the dangers faced by the men and women who have devoted their lives to protecting our communities.

There is no such thing as a “normal shift” in law enforcement. Every time officers or deputies respond to a call, stop a suspect, or step up to protect the innocent, they put their lives on the line.

Unfortunately, the dangers faced by Alabama’s law enforcement officers do not come only from criminals. In many cases, the greatest threats to officer safety come from woke, pro-crime, anti-police prosecutors and judges.

There is no better example than the case of Montgomery Police Officer Aaron Cody Smith. Officer Smith was a young cop in his 20s, supporting a wife and three children, when his life changed forever.

It was a late-night shift in a high-crime area when Officer Smith found himself pursuing a burglary suspect. In an attempt to apprehend the suspect, Officer Smith used all methods of non-lethal force, while the suspect continued to resist arrest. The suspect eventually turned on Officer Smith, charging at him with a metal pole. Officer Smith shot the suspect, killing him.

Even though Officer Smith had plainly acted in self-defense—and even though he took every possible step to save the suspect’s life after the shooting—he was prosecuted for murder. And when a jury convicted Officer Smith on the lesser crime of manslaughter, the Attorney General’s Office argued for the Alabama Supreme Court to uphold his conviction.

Throughout this tragic ordeal, only one person in the Alabama judicial system stood tall for Officer Smith and for the right of the police officers to defend themselves: my former colleague, Jay Mitchell.

Jay, who was then a Justice on the Alabama Supreme Court, wrote a courageous opinion explaining that the baseless prosecution of Officer Smith was among “the most astonishing failure[s]” of justice that our Court had seen. I was honored to join his opinion. As Jay explained in his writing, Alabama law gives all people—including police officers—the right to defend themselves.

Thanks to Jay’s courage, Officer Smith is now a free man. He has been reunited with his wife and three daughters and recently welcomed a new baby boy.

Without Jay’s opinion, the situation could have been very different: Officer Smith would likely be in prison for the rest of his daughters’ childhoods, and he never would have seen the birth of his son.

As Officer Smith’s case illustrates, Jay’s track record on criminal justice issues is unparalleled. At every turn, Jay has defended the thin blue line that stands between order and anarchy. He wrote the famous opinion for our Court that overturned the so-called “year and a day rule” — which allowed murderers to go free if their victim died over a year after the attack.

He ruled over and over again that convicted criminals should not receive special treatment or leniency from the judicial system. And when the presiding judge of Montgomery County issued an administrative order allowing felons to walk free without posting bond, Jay spearheaded an initiative to overturn that order before it could take effect.

All of these rulings play a crucial role in keeping our streets and our law enforcement officers safe.

As our next Attorney General, Jay will continue to defend that thin blue line. He will put violent criminals in jail and keep them there. And he will make sure that no other police officer or sheriff’s deputy has to endure the type of harassment, injustice, and persecution that Officer Cody Smith did.

If Soros-backed prosecutors in blue cities try to wrongfully prosecute cops, Jay will stop it. He will exercise his authority as the State’s chief prosecutor to prevent any more miscarriages of justice.

With Jay at the helm, Alabama’s law enforcement officers will be free to do their jobs confidently and decisively, knowing that they will not be prosecuted for defending themselves or their communities in the line of duty.

The Honorable Michael F. Bolin served as an Associate Justice on the Alabama Supreme Court from 2005 until 2023. He now serves as a Jefferson County Commissioner.