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Troy Robin King is the current attorney general of the state of Alabama, United States. He previously served as an Assistant Attorney General. King was appointed by Governor Bob Riley in 2004, when William Pryor resigned to accept a federal judgeship. He then defeated Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson, Jr. in the 2006 election by a 54-46% margin.

Personal

King was born on August 22, 1968, in Elba, Alabama. He is currently married to Paige King with whom he has three children; Briggs, Colden, and Asher. He is a Baptist. King received his undergraduate degree from Troy University and is a 1994 graduate of the University of Alabama law school.

Issues and Controversies

During the 2005 legislative session, King made headlines by wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet of the kind used by parolees and others under judicial monitoring. King promised to wear the bracelet until the legislature passed tougher monitoring laws for parolees and convicted sex offenders, and removed it when such laws were passed.

King has made opposition to gambling a central theme of his administration. In 2006, King asked the United States Department of the Interior to deny an application by the Poarch Creek Band of Indians to expand their gaming operations in Alabama. King later filed a lawsuit against the Department to keep it from pressuring Alabama to permit video gaming on Alabama reservations.

King is also a staunch proponent of the death penalty, a position that has subjected him to criticism from death penalty opponents. When many states voluntarily suspended executions during U.S. Supreme Court litigation over lethal injection, King continued to seek the setting of execution dates in Alabama. King's support of the death penalty created a controversy when, in 2007, a district attorney in suburban Birmingham supported commutation of the death sentence of an accomplice, in a case where the actual shooter had escaped the death penalty because he was a juvenile. King sought to block the district attorney's testimony to that effect, and criticized the district attorney. The incident led a wide, bipartisan coalition of local district attorneys, as well as newspaper editorials, to criticize King. King received praise from death penalty supporters for his stance in the case.

In late 2006, King was forced to recuse his entire office from the ongoing investigation of abuses in the Alabama community college system, when it emerged that he had asked community college chancellor Roy Johnson to hire the mother of one of King's employees. This request was made while King knew Johnson to be a target of the ongoing investigation. It later emerged that King had, also during the investigation, asked Johnson for community college system financial support for Victims of Crime and Leniency, an advocacy group politically supportive of King. The investigation eventually resulted in a guilty plea by Johnson in the related federal investigation.

In early 2007, an investigative article published by The Birmingham News revealed that King had accepted free tickets, food, and skybox access to an Atlanta Braves baseball game from Alabama Power Company the preceding season. Alabama Power had not reported the gifts to appropriate ethics agencies as required, until contacted by the News. King attended the game in question with his family and family friends. The food bill for the outing was over $1,200, and the skybox normally rented for $2,400 a day. Because King, as Attorney General, was legally responsible for representing Alabama Power customers before the Alabama Public Service Commission and other agencies, he was widely criticized for accepting the gifts. King reimbursed Alabama Power for $486 for his family's food, but did not reimburse it for food eaten by his family's guests. King denied wrongdoing in the matter.

Later in 2007, Anthony Castaldo, formerly an investigator with the Attorney General's office, submitted an affidavit stating that King had ordered him to investigate a Birmingham-area judge for political reasons, and later punished Castaldo when a year-long investigation showed no evidence of wrongdoing. After other investigators took over the case, King secured an indictment against the judge, but the charges against the judge were later dismissed.

King's name is mentioned as a possible gubernatorial candidate in 2010. King was an early supporter of the presidential campaign of Arizona Senator John McCain in 2008.

Professional Experience

Legal Advisor, Governor Bob Riley, 2003-2004
Assistant Attorney General, 1999-2003
Deputy Executive Secretary, 1997-1999
Acting Executive Secretary, 1997
Deputy Legal Advisor, 1995-1997
Legal Advisor, 1995.

Notes

1. "Mission Accomplished for Attorney General," The Montgomery Advertiser, November 8, 2006, p. A-2
2. Alabama State Bar
3. "Law and Order Measures Big at Session," The Huntsville Times, July 28, 2005, p. 1B
4. "King Opposes Gambling Request," The Montgomery Advertiser, July 30, 2006, p. B3
5. "Judge Agrees to Let Creek Indians Join Gambling Lawsuit," Mobile Press-Register, April 28, 2008, p. B1
6. "Editorial: Hop on the Execution Train: Ol' Troy's Revving to Go," The Anniston Star, April 23, 2008
7. "Editorial: Troy King's War on Something," The Birmingham News, October 29, 2007, p. 6A
8. "Your Opinions: Editorial Should Embolden King's case," The Birmingham News, September 18, 2007, p. 6A
9. "State AG Solicited Target of Inquiry," The Birmingham News, January 28, 2007, p. 1A
10. "Johnson Pleads Guilty to Kickbacks," The Birmingham News, April 1, 2008, p. 1A
11. "King Used Alabama Power Skybox," The Birmingham News, January 14, 2007, p.1A
12. "Editorial: No Interests in Conflicts," The Birmingham News, April 8, 2007, p. 2B
13. "Editorial: Keeping 'em Honest," The Anniston Star, October 15, 2007
14. "Alabama Power Only Reported Gift Following Newspaper Query," Mobile Press-Register, January 15, 2007, p. B2
15. "AG King Led 'Witch Hunt' to Remove Bessemer Judge, Investigator Says," The Birmingham News, September 11, 2007, p. 1A
16. "Indictment Against King Dismissed," The Birmingham News, October 17, 2007, p. 1A (The judge's name was also "King.")
17. "Hubbard Keeping Options Open for 2010," Opelika-Auburn News, January 18, 2008
18. "Presidential Fever," The Huntsville Times, November 9, 2007, p. 8A

External links

• Official site
• NAAG bio
• A.G. King's U.S. Senate testimony

• Living people
• Alabama Attorneys General
• Alabama lawyers