UPDATE: AL Death Penalty Cases May Soon Be Only in the Hands of the Jury

Alabama could be close to ending its one-of-a-kind practice of allowing judges to hand down death sentences despite a jury’s recommendation for life in prison.

The state Senate approved a bill Thursday that would end the state’s status as the only one in the U.S. that allows a judge to override a jury when sentencing capital murder cases.

Senators approved the bill 30-1. It now moves to the House of Representatives, where a similar bill has cleared committee but faces an uncertain future on the floor.

Since 1976, Alabama judges have overridden jury recommendations 112 times, according to the Montgomery-based Equal Justice Initiative. In 101 of those cases, the judges gave a death sentence.

The legislation would only affect future death sentences, not inmates currently on Alabama’s death row.

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