SUMMARY

The bill removes from the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 17-A the statutory requirement that courts engage in a specific 3-step process for determining sentences of imprisonment with respect to murder and Class A, B and C crimes. The 3-step process was enacted by the Legislature in 1995 and is based, almost verbatim, upon the so-called Hewey analysis first set forth by the Maine Law Court in the 1993 case of State v. Hewey, 622 A.2d 1151 (Me. 1993).

Specifically, the bill repeals and replaces Title 17-A, section 1252-C, which required trial courts to follow the 3-step Hewey analysis when imposing sentences of imprisonment for murder and Class A, B and C offenses. The new section provides that when imposing such sentences, trial courts must adhere to the procedure set forth in the Maine Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rule 32(a)(3), which requires that reasons for a sentence be set forth on the record, and to the case law developed by the Law Court in the exercise of its appellate review of sentence function.

The bill also repeals Title 17-A, section 253, subsection 6, which set forth specific lengths of incarceration to be assigned in the 2nd step of the Hewey sentencing process for gross sexual assault offenders who had prior convictions for gross sexual assault and required that such incarceration not be suspended in the 3rd step of the process. In practice, sentences for gross sexual assault offenders who have prior convictions for gross sexual assault are so long that the minimum lengths of incarceration under Title 17-A, section 253, subsection 6 rarely came into play. Moreover, recently enacted Title 17-A, section 1252, subsections 4-B and 4-C call for enhanced penalties for gross sexual assault offenders who have prior Class B or Class C convictions for gross sexual assault or for unlawful sexual contact.

In addition, the bill removes a requirement in Title 17-A, section 1251 that in murders involving children under the age of 6, the age of the victim be given special weight in the first step of the Hewey sentencing process and replaces that requirement with an instruction to trial courts to give special weight to the victim's age in exercising their sentencing