Patrick Jordan Smith
Yesterday Governor Riley came to the Morgan County Courthouse and recognized Sen. Orr and I for the passage of transparency legislation. As I was mulling outside the courthouse, my mind wandered back to why I got involved in politics.
In 1986, I wasn’t a Republican, I considered myself an independent. Other than voting, I left the politics to the political hacks. That all changed because of Patrick Jordan Smith.
In the summer of ‘86, 8-week-old Patrick Jordan Smith was secured in his car seat behind his mother on Vaughn Bridge Road in Hartselle, when a car driven by Johnny Wayne Campbell barreled through a stop sign and broadsided Smith vehicle, killing the infant. It was the last wreck I investigated as a State Trooper, before my transfer to the Alabama Bureau of Investigation.
When I got to the scene, the ambulance had already arrived and was treating the victims. I first saw Campbell sitting on the ground, cussing at Patrick’s mother. During my investigation, I discovered items in Campell’s car that I later determined had been taken in a burglary of a residence .6 of a mile from the intersection.
I charged Campbell with murder because the death was caused while in immediate flight from a felony and 1st Degree burglary. A Morgan County jury heard the case and he was convicted on both counts. Because he was a habitual offender, Campbell received a life without parole sentence on both charges. Jeri Grant, from the AG’s office did a great job prosecuting the case.
During Campbell’s lengthy criminal career, he became quite adept at manipulating the justice system; but I was fairly confident that he was off the streets for good. The case was upheld by Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, but evenually overturned by the Alabama Supreme Court, citing “insufficiency of evidence”. It is rare that an Alabama appellate court thumbs their nose at a jury and overturns a case for that reason. They reversed the case in a manner that did not provide for a retrial.
I was, and remain to this day, outraged; particularly since I am convinced (and the jury agreed) that the evidence was there. I believe the court made their decision primarily because they just didn’t want Campbell doing life without parole for a traffic death. My blood still boils when I think about how the Alabama Supreme Court let the Smith Family down. A couple of years ago, I bumped into Jeri Grant on a State House elevator. Her blood still boils over this travesty, too.
At the time, the Supreme Court was unanimously left-leaning Democrats and I became interested in the state judicial races. That happens to be about the same time the Business Council of Alabama brought the “evil genius” Karl Rove to challenge the Democrat domination of the Alabama appellate courts. I have been politically active ever since.
The most important legacy we can leave is how we influence others. Patrick Jordan Smith only had 8 weeks, but he left his mark. I am among those affected by his short life, and I’m glad that as I was being recognized for the biggest victory of my legislative career (so far), I remembered Patrick Jordan Smith.
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Rep. Ball,
Thank you for sharing that moving story. Having a passion behind the day-to-day work/volunteering is what drives us.
Mine turning point was 9/11/2001. I’ve been hooked to politics ever since. It’s not necessary a personal experience, such as yours, but a knowledge that we could be more free than what we are now. I’d like to see the ability to have local governance as the most important to us, while the upper government just maintains the framework of interactions.
Keep up the great work!
Thank you for your efforts. I pulled that opinion. Interesting read.
Wayne,
Thanks for the interest. When I read the opinion the first time, one of the things that aggravated me so much was that the court ignored key pieces of evidence that linked Campbell to the burglary.
I fail to see why the political makeup of the court factors into a bad decision, beyond a personal level that is, but if that motivated you to have interest in government kudos.
So you’ve never once in your entire life complained about a court decision by either a conservative or liberal court?
I wasn’t clear, I meant regarding the fallacies with this particular decision.
If we could clone Mike Ball and fill the legislature with the clones Alabama would become a better place because of it.
Tal East,
I was already interested in government (As a Trooper/ABI Agent, I was IN government), the mishandling of that case sparked my interest in political races.
And it was on a personal, not political level, that I became interested in campaigns. My experience also tells me that judges on the left side of the political spectrum tend to search hard for ways to be more lenient on criminal offenders. They usually prefer programs to punishment.
I just don’t buy your presumption about Democratic jurists Mike, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have some validity in your own personal experience.
I am not sure I agree with the criminal theory but i definitely makes a difference in civil cases. GOP’ers almost always rule for the business/insurance co. and vice versa. Now it is pretty sweet for the BCA other than Sue Bell Cobb.
Tal East,
I know it’s just my opinion and that my presumption is rebuttable. I’ve seen exceptions, but it’s a pretty good rule-of-thumb that jurists on the left lean toward programs & those on the right lean toward punishment. I guess I need to eventually do a post about how swift, sure and consistent punishment can provide incentives to make rehabilitation programs work; but for those with long pattern of criminal activity and those who commit certain crimes, rehabilitations programs aren’t the best option.