07 November 2024

By Kenneth Mullinax/ASU

An Alabama State University graduate has been appointed by Alabama’s governor as Montgomery County’s first black district attorney in its more than 200-year history.

Azzie Melton Oliver (ASU Class of 1998) has been appointed by Governor Kay Ivey to complete the term of Montgomery County District Attorney Daryl Bailey following his recent retirement. Oliver, a native of Selma, Ala., graduated from ASU with a degree in criminal justice. He received his juris doctorate from Faulkner University Thomas Goode Jones School of Law.

“I am both humbled and proud to now be the district attorney representing the state capital of Alabama,” Oliver said by phone. “I consider my ability to serve our community an honor. I have spent most of my career serving Montgomery County and am committed to leading the office in the fight for victims and making the capital city safer for all its citizens.”

Oliver, a longtime prosecutor, was the Montgomery County district attorney and previously served as the chief assistant district attorney, who is the second-in-command of all prosecutors in the office. Prior to working in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, she served as Chief Prosecutor in the Alabama Attorney General’s Office.

“I express my deepest gratitude to Governor Ivey for placing his trust in me to serve as Montgomery County District Attorney. I consider this appointment a blessing and an honor,” Oliver said in a prepared statement.

In a press release announcing Oliver’s appointment, Governor Ivey said having a safe capital is essential to a safer state.

“Azzie Oliver has dedicated most of her career to enforcing Alabama’s criminal laws and pursuing justice for the people of Montgomery County, so I am confident she will help us create a safer Montgomery,” Ivey said. “Azzie has protected victims of crime and prosecuted criminals, so she has become well-respected by many, from law enforcement officials to prosecutors. I look forward to working with her as our city attorney.”

Oliver explained that her professors, curriculum and experience at Alabama State University played a major role in her success.

“ASU has helped me be successful in life and advanced me to where I am today in many ways,” said Oliver. “The University’s criminal justice program where I majored and its professional and knowledgeable faculty pushed me in a positive way to excel academically and also prepared me to be accepted and go at the law school. The state of Alabama was very important to me.”

Montgomery’s new district attorney wants to see more ASU students achieve their goals and, if inclined, enter the field of law.

“My advice to university students is that if they want to be successful and fulfilled in life, then they need to set career goals, focus on achieving those goals, and set a path that focuses on improving themselves and in doing so, they will be where they and God want them to be in life,” Oliver said.

Oliver also credited her family for providing a firm foundation of love, leadership and service to others.

“I am very grateful to my family members who, through the examples they set in my life, made me who I am today, especially my mother, Ora Melton, and my father, Reverend Woodie L. Melton, who have were civilized. rights leaders in Perry County, Alabama, and growing up with them in my life, I stood on the backs of giants. They taught me to treat people right, to obey the law and thanks to them and the Lord. I’m now Alabama’s capital city attorney,” Oliver added.