By LIAM FARRELL Staff Writer
Hometown Annapolis
Anyone convicted of first- or second-degree sexual abuse against
a child under 13 years old in Maryland will no longer have the
hope of parole.
But the effectiveness of "Jessica's Law" - which passed
overwhelmingly yesterday in both houses of the General Assembly
- will still be in the hands of the court system, where it will
be subject to the realities of plea bargaining.
The legislation was named after Jessica Lunsford, a 9-year-old
from Florida who was raped and murdered by a registered sex
offender in 2005.
"This bill is not only a victory for our children, but also for
our democratic institution," said Sen. Nancy Jacobs, R-Harford,
the sponsor of the bill in the Senate. "Today the leaders of
Maryland showed they value our children by protecting them from
sexual predators."
The legislation would strengthen penalties for defendants 18 and
older convicted of a first- or second-degree rape or sexual
offense against a child.
If sentenced to a mandatory minimum, a convicted sex offender
would be ineligible for parole for 25 years for first-degree
offenses and between five and 20 years for second-degree
offenses.
Gov. Martin O'Malley will sign the bill into law, according to a
spokesman.
Local co-sponsors of the Senate bill include Sens. John Astle,
D-Annapolis, Ed DeGrange Sr., D-Glen Burnie, Janet Greenip,
R-Crofton, and Bryan Simonaire, R-Pasadena.
On the House side, delegation co-sponsors are Dels. Ben Barnes,
D-College Park; Pamela Beidle, D-Linthicum; Bob Costa, R-Deale;
Ron George, R-Arnold; James King, R-Gambrills; Nic Kipke,
R-Pasadena; Mary Ann
Love, D-Glen Burnie; Tony McConkey, R-Severna Park; Joseline
Pena-Melnyk, D-College Park; and Steve Schuh, R-Gibson Island.
Although the fate of the legislation had been in doubt earlier
in the session, a tremendous grass-roots lobbying effort by
concerned citizens brought pressure on the two judicial
committees hearing the bill.
In a rare Saturday session last week, the House Judiciary
Committee unanimously approved the bill and sent it to the
floor.
"I know of hundreds of Anne Arundel County residents, including
my own grandmother, who called the chairman of the House
Judiciary Committee to demand Jessica's Law be given a vote,"
Mr. Kipke said in a statement after the House committee's vote.
"Their pressure made this happen. The people won."
The House, with applause, passed the bill 138-0. The Senate
voted in favor of the measure 43-3.
Cracks remain
The only three legislators who voted against the bill were Sens.
Brian Frosh, D-Montgomery, Lisa Gladden, D-Baltimore, and
Delores Kelley, D-Baltimore.
Ms. Gladden and Mr. Frosh voted against it in the Senate
Judiciary Committee.
Although "horrified" by the testimony of sex abuse victims, Mr.
Frosh said during the committee vote that the bill will not
prevent some early parole, such as when charges are pleaded
below the first- and second-degree thresholds.
"This bill doesn't address those situations," he said.
Despite the publicity and outrage those situations receive, they
are "isolated" and "unusual," according to John Robinson, an
attorney with about 20 years of prosecution and defense
experience in Anne Arundel County.
Often, they result from prosecutors having difficulty proving
the truth of a crime and attempting to get some jail time rather
than allowing an acquittal, he said.
"For every one you see like that, there are hundreds where that
is not the result," Mr. Robinson said. "(But) they will pop up
no matter what law you have."
Ultimately, the effectiveness of charges and plea bargains is
left up to the prosecution, said T. Joseph Touhey, a veteran
Anne Arundel County lawyer with more than 40 years of cases.
"A responsible state's attorney is your greatest safety valve
from the wrongdoer going blameless or free," Mr. Touhey said.
"The state's attorney has almost god-like authority. That's why
you have pleas."
Plea deals
Plea agreements, of course, aren't limited to sex offenses, said
county State's Attorney Frank Weathersbee.
"That's true of any crime," Mr. Weathersbee said. "(But a sex
crime with a child) is a pretty serious offense and we would
take it very seriously. Obviously, things depend on what
evidence you have."
Prosecutions in the county will proceed with whatever abilities
the state allows, he said.
"These are nationally publicized cases," Mr. Weathersbee said.
"But they are not everyday cases. When we see them, I am sure we
will proceed with the statutes provided."
Many sex offense cases never make it to trial, sometimes because
of concerns about further traumatizing the victim, Mr. Touhey
said. If every such case made it to trial, the courts would be
overwhelmed.
"You would close down the system," he said.
And that's one of the problems with mandatory minimums, Mr.
Robinson said.
Without sentencing options, defendants will be more likely to
challenge in court and more acquittals will occur because
prosecutors won't have the ability to negotiate if their
evidence isn't strong enough for conviction, he said.
Ultimately, most judges are against mandatory minimums because
they paint the legal system into a corner about what it can do,
regardless of the individual circumstances of a case, Mr. Touhey
said.
"What's best is the unbridled discretion of the trial judge," he
said. "I appreciate a system that functions better when people
of integrity are not bound by prescriptions of the law."
There are winners and losers in trials, and 50 percent of the
people involved will be unhappy with the outcome, Mr. Touhey
said.
"No system of justice is ever perfect," he said. "But ours ain't
bad."
- No Jumps-
Published March 27, 2007, The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
Copyright © 2007 The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
