MONTGOMERY, Ala. ( WSFA ) - An Alabama lawmaker has prefiled a bill that would restrict judges from giving some defendants youthful offender status.

Republican Representative Phillip Pettus (R-Killen), a former Alabama state trooper, said House Bill 11 would ban a judge from giving people 16 years old or older youthful offender status for capital murder or murder charges.

“Hopefully it will be a deterrent that people [...] 16 and above, won’t go out and commit capital murder,” said Rep. Pettus.

Alabama law allows for people younger than 19 to be tried as a youthful offender.

Rep. Pettus also filed the bill last legislative session.

Democrats, including Rep. Tashina Morris (D-Montgomery), pushed back on the idea during a committee hearing in Feb. 2025.

“We have made that decisio

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