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AJC.com > Legislature > Blog > Archives > 2007 > March > 20 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USSentencing bill passes Senate
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia’s 49 district attorneys would be able to pursue sentences of life without parole against murderers who have not been convicted of a previous violent felony without seeking the death penalty under a bill that passed the Senate Tuesday.
The chamber approved Senate Bill 145 by a vote of 49-3. The measure now heads to the House for consideration.
Sen. Preston Smith (R-Rome), the bill’s sponsor, argued that the measure would give prosecutors the option of seeking a sentence of life without parole without having to initiate a lengthy and time-consuming capital punishment trial.
“In cases where it is not possible to seek the death penalty, the family members of a victim who has been murdered should be assured that the murderer will not be back on the street,”; Smith said after the vote. “This gives prosecutors the ability to lock up a murderer and throw away the key.”
The only paths to life without parole currently are through a jury’s decision in a death penalty trial, a negotiated sentence for a guilty plea when the prosecutor has sought death, or a prosecution against a murder defendant if he or she has a prior violent felony conviction. Otherwise, prosecutors only can try for death or life with parole.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Criminal justice
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By billy spruell
March 26, 2007 10:37 AM | Link to this
Parole should always be an option to correct short sighted, vindictive sentences. Twenty or thirty years later a homicide often looks a lot different. Human beings can actually change. And forgiveness is good for all of us. Fear, anger, and oppression should not last a lifetime.
By Bren
March 26, 2007 1:55 PM | Link to this
I personally do not think that such a bill should have pass Senate. Georgia Judicial System a/k/a Criminal Justice System has to many flaws, which allows for trial & errors. You must also understand the Prosecutors are the ones providing evidences for convicting of innocent peoples and sentencing them to long prison terms without the evidence to support these convictions. Given them(Prosecutors) the power to make such a decision of Life and Death would create a whole set of new problems within the Judicial system in Georgia. The state of Georgia need to really think about the passing of this sentencing Bill.