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Sunday, February 12, 2012
Ind. Law - "Habitual offender law complex, unfair, many believe"
Sophia Voravong of the Lafayette Journal Courier has a lengthy story today (there is a p. 2 and a p. 3 that are easy, to miss the way the paper is laid out) examining Indiana's habitual offender law in operation. A sideby explains the law:
Habitual offenderSome quotes from the story itself:Can be applied to someone with two prior, unrelated felony convictions.
Defendants can receive one to three times the advisory sentence added onto their underlying crime if found guilty, with a cap of 30 years.
Under Indiana law, it must be served consecutively to the underlying conviction. Following is a breakdown of the additional time a defendant can receive.
Habitual substance offenderMurder: Advisory sentence, 55 years; habitual sentence, 30 years
Class A felony (attempted murder, fatal neglect, dealing cocaine, child molesting): Advisory sentence, 30 years; habitual sentence, 30 years
Class B felony (burglary, aggravated battery, robbery, fatal operating while intoxicated): Advisory sentence, 10 years; habitual sentence, 10 to 30 years
Class C felony (reckless homicide, battery resulting in serious bodily injury, forgery, welfare fraud): Advisory sentence, four years; habitual sentence, four to 12 years.
Class D felony (theft, child seduction, criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon): Advisory sentence, 1 1/2 years; habitual sentence, 1 1/2 to 4 1/2 years.
Applies to someone with two prior, unrelated convictions for possessing, using, abusing or manufacturing drugs or alcohol. Defendants can have three to eight years tacked onto their underlying crime.
Philip McCollum wasn't convicted of murdering his spouse, burning down an office building or holding up a string of convenience stores. But the Lafayette man's 110-year prison sentence, handed down 23 years ago, might imply otherwise.Rather, his lengthy sentence is because McCollum sold cocaine to an acquaintance-turned-police-informant, and he had prior felony convictions that made him a habitual offender.
"I remember when they sentenced him that day. I told my sister, they may as well have just killed him," McCollum's wife, Kitty McCollum, said during a recent interview. Legislators "need to look at nonviolent versus violent. You got murderers getting 60, 65 years.
"And look at Phil." * * *
Prosecutors have discretion in deciding whether to charge someone with being a habitual offender.
[Tippecanoe County Prosecutor Pat] Harrington said his office typically looks at the underlying crime, the types of prior convictions and how long ago they occurred.
But, Harrington noted, how Indiana defines a habitual offender is convoluted and complex.
Nearly all felonies can count toward it, whether violent or non-violent and whether a prior conviction for shoplifting or child molesting. There is no time limit either, so long as the defendant was convicted as an adult.
That's complicated by how drug offenses can be applied, said felony intake Deputy Prosecutor Tim Kern, whose main duty is reviewing police reports in major cases in Tippecanoe County to decide whether criminal charges will be filed.
For instance, if someone is charged with dealing cocaine, prosecutors can only file for habitual offender if the person has previously been convicted before of that exact crime or dealing another controlled substance.
In other words, "Theoretically, you can have armed robbery as a prior. You can have murder as a prior. But if dealing cocaine is the new offense, there's no habitual," Kern said.
Kern said Indiana Supreme Court justices and Indiana Court of Appeals judges have even noted in their rulings that Indiana's habitual offender statute is confusing.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 12, 2012 01:56 PM
Posted to Indiana Law