ALABAMA: Anti-Gay Former Republican State House Leader Pleads Guilty To Mail Fraud, Faces 20 Years

AL.com reports:

State Rep. Micky Hammon, R-Decatur, pleaded guilty to devising a scheme to commit mail fraud, U.S. Attorney Louis Franklin in Montgomery announced today. Hammon used campaign money to pay his personal expenses, Franklin said.

Hammon has represented the 4th district in the Alabama House since 2002. He served as majority leader in the House from the time Republicans took control of the chamber in 2010 until resigning from that post in February. Hammon faces a maximum sentence of 20 years. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson will sentence Hammon in the coming months.

From a 2015 Decatur Daily report after a federal court struck down Alabama’s ban on same-sex marriage:

Leadership in the Alabama Statehouse doesn’t appear ready to concede the fight about gay marriage. “While the appeals process on the gay marriage ruling is ongoing, we will be looking at possible legislative remedies that will ensure Alabama’s Christian conservative values remain intact,” Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, said Monday.

House Majority Leader Micky Hammon, R-Decatur, said it’s too early to talk specifics, but lawmakers are researching what, if anything, can be done to keep marriage between a man and woman. “We definitely don’t want liberal judges to tell us how to conduct marriages in the state of Alabama,” Hammon said. “If there is anything we can do, we will be doing it.”

If the U.S. Supreme Court this year legalizes gay marriage nationwide, Hammon said, Alabama won’t be the only state looking for options. “I think everyone will be looking for additional legislation,” he said. “And we don’t know what that will be until we get the Supreme Court ruling.”