The state legislature has only until Friday to come up with new sentencing guidelines for those convicted of second degree murder. Without a new standard, hundreds of inmates currently imprisoned for life will be able to petition for release.
The State Supreme Court in March ruled that mandatory life in prison without parole is unconstitutional; too harsh a sentence for Murder Two, which is classified as a violent crime which leads to death but not necessarily with the intent to kill. Rather than make the ruling retroactive so that it applies to everyone ever convicted of Murder Two, instead the court gave the legislature 120 days to establish a new minimum sentence. That 120 days expires this Friday.
The Republican-controlled Senate has passed a bipartisan bill calling for a 35-year minimum sentence, with special considerations that could turn it into as few as ten years with special mitigating circumstances or as much as life in prison. The Democrat-controlled House considers life in prison to be too strict and has called for a 25-year mandatory maximum sentence.
There are about 1,100 inmates currently imprisoned for second-degree murder.
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