Man convicted in 2019 murder of Alabama student Aniah Blanchard

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A jury in Alabama convicted Ibraheem Yazeed of murder in the 2019 death of college student Aniah Blanchard, whose disappearance had drawn national attention, but jurors declined to convict him of capital murder in a decision that spared him a possible death sentence on Thursday.

Jurors found Yazeed, 36, guilty of murdering 19-year-old Blanchard and also convicted him of felony murder. The verdicts left Yazeed facing a life sentence rather than death, after jurors rejected the capital-murder charge.

The case centered on Blanchard’s disappearance in October 2019. Authorities said she was last seen Oct. 23, 2019, at a gas station in Auburn, Alabama, and she was a student at Southern Union Community College.

Blanchard’s body was found about a month later in a wooded area in neighboring Macon County, Alabama. The AP reported that Blanchard was the stepdaughter of UFC fighter Walt Harris.

The conviction came amid lasting legal changes in Alabama that were linked to the case. The AP reported that a change to Alabama law — named “Aniah’s Law” — gave judges more discretion to deny bond to people accused of violent crimes, and that Yazeed was out on bond at the time of Blanchard’s disappearance.

The AP also reported that Gov. Kay Ivey signed legislation last year allowing visiting judges to handle violent criminal cases so they could be taken to trial more quickly, legislation that was approved after the murder case languished for several years without a trial.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said he was disappointed that Yazeed would not face a possible death sentence but indicated prosecutors would pursue life imprisonment. “I pledge to do everything in my power to ensure that Ibraheem Yazeed spends the rest of his life in prison. I believe that is what justice demands in this case. Aniah deserves it, as does her family,” Marshall said.

Defense attorney William Whatley told reporters that the case had been plagued by false information and misstatements. He said the alleged misinformation was “rising to almost the level of a lynch mob to get Mr. Yazeed on this capital murder charge.”