A veteran prosecutor from west Alabama has been elected as the first Black president of Alabama District Attorneys Association.

District Attorney Michael Jackson was sworn in last week at the Montgomery Statehouse. He will serve a one-year term.
Michael Jackson is the district attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit that includes Dallas, Hale, Bibb, Perry and Wilcox counties.

“With the rising violent crime across Alabama, I want to get more gang training for the district attorneys and their assistant district attorneys,” Jackson told al.com.

He said he also wants to seek more money for victims’ services.

Jackson was first elected in 2004 and was the first Black district attorney for the area that was home to key events in the civil rights movement. He was awarded Alabama District Attorney of the Year in 2013, and was the first Black district attorney to receive the award.

Jackson has prosecuted several high-profile cases while in office. Those included a series of church arsons and the prosecution of ex-state trooper Bernard Fowler who pleaded guilty to the 1965 shooting death of Jimmie Lee Jackson. Jackson’s death led to the historic civil rights marches from Selma to Montgomery.