Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Sarah Stewart is using a new law to try to expedite the court proceedings for the man accused in the kidnapping and brutal killing of Aniah Blanchard.

Stewart on Tuesday, at the request of Attorney General Steve Marshall, appointed a retired judge to preside over the case of 35-year-old Ibraheem Yazeed.

Yazeed is charged with capital murder during a kidnapping, capital murder during a robbery and capital murder involving a victim in a vehicle in connection with Blanchard’s slaying.

It’s been more than five years since Blanchard’s October 2019 murder, and Yazeed’s trial has been postponed multiple times.

Last month, Gov. Kay Ivey signed legislation to allow visiting judges to be brought in to handle violent criminal cases to get them to trial quickly. The law went into effect Sunday.

The law, known as the Speedy Trial Act, allows the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court to appoint a sitting or retired judge to preside over a specific case or cases involving a violent offense.

Under the act, the attorney general or a district attorney must request the appointments.

Marshall immediately asked Stewart to appoint a visiting judge in Macon County. The AG’s office is handling prosecution of the case.

Stewart on Tuesday appointed Tom F. Young Jr.as a judge in the Fifth Judicial Circuit to hear the case against Yazeed.

“After conferring with the presiding circuit judge of the Fifth Judicial Circuit, it is apparent that any delays to date in this case have not been attributable to the judges in the circuit but rather to circumstances beyond their control,” Stewart wrote in her appointment order.

Stewart wrote that the interest of the public requires the expeditious resolution of the case.

A trial date has not yet been set. A status update is currently set for September.

Following passage of the Speedy Trial Act, Marshall said this, “When trials drag on for months or even years, victims and witnesses are forced to relive their trauma repeatedly, evidence deteriorates, and the likelihood of securing justice diminishes.”

Blanchard, a Southern Union College student from Homewood, was officially reported missing Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019.

She last communicated with a friend late on the night of Oct. 23. Police said her vehicle was seen in the early-morning hours of Oct. 24 along South College Street and he encountered Yazeed inside a convenience store.

Police recovered the teen’s black 2017 Honda CRV from an apartment complex on the 6100 block of Boardwalk Boulevard in Montgomery around 6:15 p.m. the following evening, which was Friday. A citizen reported the vehicle to police.

Previous charging documents against Yazeed state that blood evidence was discovered in the passenger’s compartment of the vehicle and was “indicative of someone suffering a life-threatening injury.” The evidence was submitted to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences and confirmed to be that of Blanchard.

Her remains were found Nov. 25, 2019, in a wooded area along County Road 2 in Shorter. The remains were just several feet into the woods.

At the time of Yazeed’s arrest in Blanchard’s death, the suspect already had a lengthy criminal history which included an attempted murder and kidnapping incident in January 2019.

According to court records, two male victims – one of them 77-years-old – were held against their will in a hotel room in January 2019 on the 1200 block of Eastern Boulevard.

The older man was beaten until “unconscious, unresponsive, severely injured and near death” and robbed of a Rolex, rifle, handguns, wallet, bank card, clothing and unknown amount of currency.

The other man was also beaten and robbed of at least $40.

In July 2017, Yazeed was arrested by Cass County sheriff’s deputies in Missouri on an arrest warrant for aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer.

Yazeed also previously pleaded guilty to felony drug possession in 2015 and received a 13-month suspended sentence.

In 2012, he was charged with attempted murder after authorities said he rammed his car into a Montgomery police vehicle. A grand jury declined to indict him on those charges as well.

The previous year – 2011 – Yazeed was charged with two counts of robbery after a man was robbed of more than $2,000, a cell phone and a Gucci watch. A grand jury also declined to indict him on those charges.

Blanchard’s death sparked a movement that resulted in Aniah’s Law, which Alabama voters overwhelmingly approved in 2022.