|
|
| |
| Wed, Dec. 3, 2008 |  |
 |
|
||
| |
House OKs bill limiting clemency applications Saturday, Jan 27, 2007 By Rob Moritz Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - The House approved legislation Friday that would require state prison inmates serving sentences of live without parole to wait longer to reapply for executive clemency after being denied leniency. The Senate did not meet Friday. Under House Bill 1230 by Rep. Mike Patterson, D-Piggott, an inmate whose clemency request is denied could not reapply for six years, instead of four years under current law. Patterson said he introduced the measure at the request of a woman who had three loved ones murdered in 1980. Every four years, he said, the convicted murderer petitions for clemency, and every four years the woman and her family have to relive the tragedy while trying to keep the man behind bars. "The lady asked me if there was any way I could get her six (more) months, or one year, two years or any amount of time," he said. "It would help with what they go through every four years." Patterson said the heads of the state prison system and state Parole Board supported the bill, though neither spoke for it in committee. Under the bill, the Parole Board could waive the six-year rule under some circumstances, such as when new evidence is introduced or the inmate is in poor health. Patterson said 522 of more than 13,900 state inmates are serving sentences of life without parole. Rep. Bruce Maloch, D-Magnolia, said the longer wait would be unfair to some prisoners, such as a convicted murderer from his hometown who killed his girlfriend at 16 and has since turned his life around in prison by earning a high school equivalency diploma, taking college courses and becoming a computer expert. The man has had several clemency requests turned down and would have to wait even longer to reapply under Patterson's proposal, Maloch said. A commutation would only reduce his sentence to life, not allow him to go free, he said. "In my heart, if he was out today, I don't think he would hurt a soul," Maloch said. The bill passed on a 90-5 vote and goes to the Senate. Also Friday, the House passed, 99-0, HB 1206 by Rep. David Dunn, D-Forrest City. The bill would allow farmers to receive permits to drive earth-moving equipment on state highways if they are engaged in farming or earth-moving operations. Other bills approved include: -HB 1284 by Rep. Robbie Wills, D-Conway, which would include demolition work under the contractors licensing law. The vote was 96-0. -HB 1130 by Rep. Steve Harrelson, D-Texarkana, which would allow the state to adopt the uniform statutory rule against perpetuities, already adopted by 18 other states. The rule prohibits nonvested interests from vesting outside a certain period of time. The measure passed 90-7. |
