A judge has granted youthful offender status to Dawson Cade Rogers, the 17-year-old indicted for extreme indifference murder in a 2024 Thanksgiving crash that killed 19-year-old Nolan J. McDavid.

Mobile County Judge Jill Phillips made the decision during an Aug. 7 hearing where the courtroom reached capacity. Rogers, who was 17 at the time of the incident, will now forgo a jury trial and instead face a bench trial before Philips. Under Alabama law, youthful offender status limits public access to case records and shields any conviction from being treated as a felony on the defendant’s record.

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