Photo by Erin Nelson.
Homewood native Aniah Blanchard was abducted and killed in 2019, but a new law in her name could prevent the same thing from happening to others.
Homewood native Aniah Blanchard was abducted and killed in 2019, but a new law in her name could prevent the same thing from happening to others.
Alabama lawmakers approved a constitutional amendment, called Aniah’s Law, that would allow judges to deny bail to violent offenders. This includes any violent crime, such as murder, rape and robbery.
The suspect in Blanchard’s case, Ibraheem Yazeed, was out on bond at the time of his arrest in Blanchard’s disappearance for two counts of kidnapping, two counts of robbery and one count of attempted murder from January 2019.
Seeing this law move forward is emotional for Blanchard’s mother, Angela Harris.
“It took her to stop this violent offender because he is a repeat offender, and he was going to keep repeating, just like all these other people getting out on bond for violent offenses,” she said. “This law is wonderful and amazing, but my daughter had to die for it. It’s hard, and it’s emotional. But it’s also something that is so amazing. It’s going to save a lot of lives.”
Because this is a constitutional change, Alabama voters will see this on the ballot during the November 2022 election. Harris said she has already begun campaigning: she’s making T-shirts and stickers and making plans to speak across the state.
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