Steven King

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Steven David King (born July 28, 1961 in Blountsville) was the Blount County Circuit Court presiding judge from 2007 to 2022.

King grew up on a farm near Blountsville and graduated from J. B. Pennington High School in 1979. He earned a bachelor of science in chemistry at Auburn University in 1984 and completed law school at Samford's Cumberland School of Law in 1988.

King worked at a law firm in Birmingham before opening a solo practice in Blountsville, where he had been appointed city attorney in 1996. He also served as county attorney for Blount County beginning in 2001. He and his wife, Carla, have two children: Autumn and Stephen.

King was elected to fill the seat on the 41st Circuit left vacant by Robert Austin in the 2006 general election. In the 2012 Republican primary he survived a challenge from Gregory Reid. He did not seek re-election in 2022. King also represented Blount County on the executive committee of the Alabama Republican Party.

Beginning in 2015, King and the Blount County Commission aired numerous grievances with each other relating to courthouse facilities, security, subdivision regulations, case management, and jail overcrowding. King filed a civil suit accusing Commissioner Dean Calvert of defamation, but it was dismissed in December 2019.

In 2020 King wrote an anonymous letter accusing Calvert and another Commissioner of allowing a Warrior Police officer to use a hotel room rented by the county in Gulf Shores during the Alabama Association of County Commissioners annual meeting for the purpose of carrying out an extra-marital affair. He asked an attorney to mail out packages containing those letters along with copies of court filings relating to the conduct of those officials, and an audio recording of a conversation between the police officer and Commissioner Dean Calvert which included racial slurs and misogynistic language. He then cited the anonymous letter in a request for Calvert to be asked to resign.

In December 2022 the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission determined that King's actions violated the Canons of Judicial Ethics by undermining the integrity and independence of the bench, and recommended he be removed from his seat. The Alabama Court of the Judiciary accepted the recommendation and censured him.

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