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Courtney Porter, 33, of Andalusia was recently arrested by agents from the State Bureau of Investigations and the Andalusia Police Department in a wooded area outside of Evergreen.

According to District Attorney Walt Merrell, “Porter’s co-defendant, Brittany Head, was convicted of murder in the last trial term. Based on the evidence produced during that trial — namely Head’s testimony — we filed a motion under Aniah’s Law to have Porter and others held without bond until the trial was concluded.”

Tyquise Jenkins, 26, of Andalusia was also charged for his involvement in the same murder. He was arrested by the APD on the Aniah’s Law Order on Oct. 8, 2024. He and Porter both remain in the Covington County Jail with no bond.

“Aniah’s Law was passed by the Alabama Legislature after Aniah Blanchard was murdered by Ibraheem Yazeed,” Merrell said. “At the time of Blanchard’s murder, Yazeed was out on a $280,000 bond for kidnapping, robbery, and attempted murder from a January 2019 event in Montgomery County.”

The law, sponsored by Representative Chip Brown, R-Mobile, passed the House and the Senate without a single dissenting vote. Aniah’s Law says the Court “shall” hold an individual without bond when they are charged with certain violent offenses. “In this case, murder is a qualifying offense, but Aniah’s Law was not in effect when this murder happened. So, we had to have some other event trigger our ability to request a change in the bond conditions. When we tried Brittany Head, she testified on her own behalf. She offered new evidence at that trial that further implicated herself and her co-defendants. That triggered an opportunity for us to file to motions under Aniah’s Law.”

Each of the charged defendants is implicated in the Nov. 16, 2020 death of Micah Coon. According to Head’s testimony at her own trial, Porter, Jenkins, and Frank McQueen, together with Head and Dontavious Powell, went to Coon’s residence after Coon and Jenkins were involved in a physical altercation at the Thirsty Turtle on S. Three Notch Street in Andalusia. It is alleged that each of the defendants entered Coon’s home and murdered him in retaliation for the earlier incident with Jenkins. According to prior testimony, Coon’s fiancé and their children hid in a back bedroom of the home during the murder.

Merrell said he expects the matter to be concluded soon.

“Head was sentenced to life in prison for her involvement. We will ask for the same sentences for everyone else we convict for Micah’s murder. We expect to try the remaining cases in the coming months.”

Merrell added that, “Aniah’s Law was a response by the legislature that marches us forward in the right direction — toward public safety. The ‘woke’ portion of our society seems to scream for criminals’ rights and their protections, with complete disregard for victims, or potential victims. Criminals have rights, but they don’t deserve preferential treatment and the chance to harm others again and again, like Ibraheem Yazeed did.”