Alabama Democratic Party chairman Chris England issued a show cause order to Sebrina Martin Friday giving Martin a chance to make her case to a subcommittee before being disqualified from as the Democratic nominee to serve as a family court judge in Montgomery.
England said Monday morning that he has not yet received a response from Martin, who has until July 8 to respond.
If Martin responds, she would need to go before a subcommittee to plead her case. The subcommittee could then decide whether to move forward with disqualifying Martin.
The order comes after an unrelated election contest filed a day after the primary by William Boyd, a constituent in the district.
“Substantial evidence supports the decision of the subcommittee that the contestant did not comply with the requirements of Alabama Code section 17-13-78(a)(1),” the committee wrote in it’s final order on the contest hearing. “A majority of the subcommittee orders that the contest is dismissed.”
That section of the law states that the person filing the contest must have been “a qualified elector when the primary was held and he or she participated therein.”
However, the committee said that same substantial evidence “gives the committee grave concern regarding the conduct of the candidate” and unanimously recommended England issue the show cause order.
The hearing was not open to the public and APR does not have details about exactly what evidence was shared, but can confirm that Sebrina’s biological daughter Jasmine Martin shared her story again in an affidavit.
A 2013 court order came to light in early June showing that Sebrina Martin had lost custody of six children due to excessive corporal punishment in her Montgomery home, and Jasmine reiterated that account to APR for an article published June 9.
Sebrina Martin responded eight days later in a video statement, claiming her children were manipulated to spew hateful lies against her by her ex-husband Michael Martin. The children refuted the statement.
In addition to the 2013 loss of custody, APR also detailed Brittnie Morgan Whitt’s story of how Sebrina Martin represented her daughter as guardian ad litem in 2016, and convinced Whitt to adopt out her newborn son to her.
A letter signed by 32 family practice lawyers called on the Democratic Party to remove Martin from the ballot, while also calling for appropriate action from the Alabama Bar Association.
