DA Steve Billy to retire at year’s end

News Staff Report

Steve Billy, District Attorney for Alabama’s 21st Judicial Circuit (Escambia County), announced last week that he will retire at the end of this year from the position he has held for the past 20 years.
The 67-year-old DA has reportedly filed paperwork notifying Gov. Kay Ivey of his intentions. The governor is accepting applications already and will choose a successor for Billy from among the applicants who seek the job.
His current six-year term — his fourth — does not end until 2028. But the Brewton native, a graduate of T.R. Miller High School, where he played trombone in the school band, said in published reports that his decision was based on a desire to spend more time with his grandchildren.
Billy was born in Ft. Walton Beach, Fla., and moved to Brewton with his family as a child. He graduated from Faulkner University’s Jones School of Law in 1998 and was admitted to the local and state bar associations that same year.
Billy operated The Flower Box, a Brewton florist, for 10 years but got a job with former District Attorney Mike Godwin while attending law school at night. When he graduated, Godwin hired him as an assistant district attorney.
He eventually replaced his former boss after being elected, without opposition, to the post in 2004 and taking office in January 2005. He has been re-elected three times, also with no opposition.