1. In 1964, Bill Baxley graduated from the University of Alabama School of Law in Tuscaloosa.
18 Facts About Bill Baxley
1. 2.
Bill Baxley, incorrectly, was perceived as the candidate closer politically to George Wallace, an impression he did not dispute throughout the election contest.
3.
Bill Baxley ran unsuccessfully in the primary for governor in 1986.
4.
Bill Baxley appointed the state's first African-American assistant attorney general, Myron Thompson, who later became a US District Judge.
5.
Bill Baxley reopened the cold case of the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.
6.
Bill Baxley succeeded in gaining a guilty verdict by the jury in Chambliss's trial.
7.
Bill Baxley lost the Democratic primary to political newcomer Fob James, who defeated Republican nominee Guy Hunt of Cullman.
8.
Bill Baxley's campaign had highlighted the fact that James had been a Republican and returned to the Democratic Party to pursue his candidacy.
9.
Bill Baxley was endorsed by University of Alabama football coach Bear Bryant, largely because James was a former football letterman for the Crimson Tide's bitter archrival, the Auburn Tigers and their Hall of Fame coach, Shug Jordan.
10.
Graddick won the run-off election by a few thousand votes, but Bill Baxley appealed to the Alabama Supreme Court.
11.
Bill Baxley has been very outspoken about his belief in the innocence of Alabama death row prisoner Toforest Johnson.
12.
In 2021, Bill Baxley joined an amicus brief in support of a new trial for Johnson, citing District Attorney Danny Carr's determination that the District Attorney's Office no longer had faith in the conviction and death sentence it obtained in 1998.
13.
In 1962, Bill Baxley joined in the Alabama Army National Guard, where he began his career as an enlisted clerk.
14.
Bill Baxley retired as a colonel on May 29,2001, JAG Corps.
15.
Bill Baxley was politically active, and was elected as Alabama lieutenant governor in 2002, serving from 2003 to 2007.
16.
In 1990, Bill Baxley married Marie Bill Baxley, a reporter who had covered his campaign.
17.
In 1979, Bill Baxley founded the firm Bill Baxley, Dillard Trial Counsel, in Birmingham.
18.
Bill Baxley primarily represented large business corporations, yet continued to represent individuals of modest means.