MONTGOMERY, Ala. – In the final few days of primary season, Republican Jay Mitchell has released a video attacking opponent Katherine Robertson that features Aaron Cody Smith, a former Montgomery police officer.
Smith was convicted of manslaughter in 2019 for fatally shooting an unarmed black man in 2016. He reached a plea deal with the attorney general’s office in 2024 and was released from prison on time served.
In the three-minute ad, Smith explains his perspective of the case and says that the attorney general’s office did not help him.
“When I needed the attorney general’s office the most, they were nowhere to be found,” Smith said. “Katherine Robertson, she has not had my back in her position as chief counsel at the attorney general’s office. Robertson fought to uphold my conviction, even though she knew I was innocent. What she did to me was just wrong.”
The Mitchell campaign said it has not made an broadcast ad buy for the video. The campaign is boosting the video on social media and sharing via text.
Smith later calls the situation cruel, followed by a clip of Robertson calling Smith’s conviction wrong.
“If you back the blue, you cannot vote for Katherine Robertson,” Smith said.
He goes on to say that Mitchell, who was a justice on the Alabama Supreme Court at the time, was the only one who had his back.
“He fought for me, and he will fight for anyone wearing the badge,” Smith said. “He’s proven that.”
Mitchell said in a statement about the ad that in the Smith case, he watched “politicians abandon a good police officer” and “an honorable man get thrown to the wolves while career bureaucrats chose to look the other way.”
“I watched that officer’s community descend into lawlessness because the Attorney General lacked the courage to stand up and say what was true,” Mitchell said. “I did everything I could for Cody from my seat on the bench.”
When asked about statements Mitchell made about the case, Robertson defended the AG office’s approach.
“Our office did everything that we could to help Cody Smith given the confines of our jurisdiction in that matter, and we wish him well,” Robertson told ADN.
The two will face off with Blount County District Attorney Pamela Casey for the Republican nomination next week.
The primary is May 19. For more information about how and where to vote, visit the secretary of state’s website.