Wrongfully Convicted Cop Weighs In On Robertson’s Latest Attack Ad
“The woman who turned her back on me while I was being prosecuted doesn’t get to lecture anybody about protecting law enforcement.” -Aaron Cody Smith
From the Mitchell campaign
BIRMINGHAM, AL—Former Montgomery Police Officer Aaron Cody Smith is speaking out against a new attack ad from Attorney General candidate Katherine Robertson, calling the ad’s portrayal of her record on law enforcement “an insult to me and every officer who knows what happened in my case.”
Smith said Robertson’s latest ad crosses a line because it attempts to rewrite a record Alabama law enforcement officers already know well.
“Pretty wild for Katherine Robertson to attack Jay Mitchell about his support for law enforcement, when Jay was the only leader willing to stand up for me,” Smith said. “While Katherine’s office was doing its best to keep me locked up at Limestone, Jay looked at the facts of my case and stood for my innocence. It changed everything.”
Smith, whose prosecution and imprisonment became one of the most high-profile law enforcement cases in Alabama, said Robertson’s attempt to present herself as a champion of law enforcement ignores the role the Attorney General’s Office played in his prosecution as well as more recent law enforcement prosecutions.
“You don’t get to oversee the destruction of a good officer’s life, continue to prosecute other innocent cops, and then pretend to back the blue,” Smith said. “The woman who turned her back on me while I was being prosecuted doesn’t get to lecture anybody about protecting law enforcement.”
Smith’s case has become a central issue in the Attorney General’s race, with Mitchell highlighting how Smith’s wrongful prosecution devastated morale in law enforcement and resulted in a staffing collapse inside the Montgomery Police Department. Montgomery has since been plagued by record-breaking rates of violent crime.
Mitchell also stated that the injustice done to Cody Smith played a major role in his decision to leave the Alabama Supreme Court and run for Attorney General.
Mitchell said, “I’m running to stop wrongful prosecutions of good officers before the damage is done—both to our officers and to the communities they serve.”
Earlier this year, Mitchell announced plans for a “Critical Incident Assessment Team” that is designed to ensure that the Attorney General’s Office monitors officer-involved cases from the beginning and intervenes if case facts do not support prosecution.
Smith said, “If you wear a badge, love someone who wears a badge, or value living in a safe community, the choice for Attorney General is clear. Vote for Jay Mitchell.”
The Republican primary for Attorney General is May 19.
For more information, visit https://www.jayforalabama.com.
