Sen. Dick Sears speaks during a meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on Jan. 11. Photo by Colin Meyn/VTDigger
A Vermont legislative panel is exploring changes to how certain repeat offenders can be prosecuted, looking to target for sentence enhancements those with violent pasts, as opposed to offenders who have a number of felony convictions.
The bill, S. 19, would do away with Vermont’s habitual offenders statute, while keeping on the books a separate “career” habitual criminals law, but renaming it the {violent} habitual criminals law.
Part of the difference is that under the habitual offenders statute a person could face up to life in prison upon their conviction for a fourth felony offense. Under the “career” habitual criminals statute, a person facing a third conviction for the most serious felony charges, could face up to life in prison.
Vermont has about a dozen offenses considered the more severe felonies, mostly involving violence, from murder to sex crimes.
“I introduced (the bill) because we have two laws now that deal with habitual offenders, and it’s somewhat confusing,” Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, the bill’s sponsor, said Tuesday.
“I also introduced it so that those who are charged as habitual offenders are truly violent offenders,” Sears added. “Because I’ve seen situations where somebody has prior felonies, but they are not violent. I want to make sure that they’re not getting a life term or being threatened with a life term.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee took up the bill Tuesday, but took no action.
Panel members agreed to seek data on how many times both sentence enhancements are brought by prosecutors as well as how often each end up as part of a person’s sentence.
Defender General Matt Valerio. File photo by Elizabeth Hewitt/VTDigger
Vermont Defender General Matthew Valerio, testifying before the committee Tuesday, said that in his roughly three decades practicing law in the state he could not remember a time when the “career” habitual offenders statute had ever been used by a prosecutor.
However, the defender general said, he has seen the habitual offenders law that applies to all felony convictions used by prosecutors. For example, a person with three prior felony convictions for forgery or larceny charged with a fourth felony could be eligible for such a habitual offenders enhancement.
Frequently, Valerio said, it’s used as “leverage” by those prosecutors as they negotiate plea deals since the enhancement carries a possible penalty of up to life in prison.
That can create an issue of “fairness,” Valerio said, since that sentence enhancement option may be used more in one part of the state than another as a “leverage” tool. He said he believed such habitual offenders enhancements are brought more frequently in certain counties, specifically naming Rutland and Bennington counties.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Bill addresses sentencing options for repeat felony offenders.