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Sentencing Law and Policy
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Maryland legislature passes “Second Look Act” to allow some offenders to seek reduced sentence after serving 20 years in prison

By Douglas Berman

As reported in this local article, “hours after the [Maryland] Senate approved the Second Look Act, the House on Thursday quickly accepted Senate amendments to the bill that gives a second chance to long-serving incarcerated individuals and sent the measure to the governor for his signature.”  Here are more of the interesting legislative details:

It capped months of emotional, and often personal, debate on House Bill 853, which critics said would bring needless new suffering to victims of crime, but supporters said would provide a deserved second chance to those in prison who had turned their lives around.

The Senate on Wednesday, by a one-vote margin, approved an amendment that would make the Second Look Act unavailable to anyone convicted of killing a first responder in the line of duty.

That cleared the way for the Senate to approve the bill 31-16 and send it back to the House, which had approved the bill two weeks ago, on an 89-49 vote. House members voted 89-47 for the amended bill Thursday night and sent it to the governor….

Under the bill, some people who have served at least 20 years of a prison sentence could petition the court for a sentence reduction. That option would not be available to someone sentenced to life without the possibility of parole or to a sex offender — and, after the Senate amendment, to someone convicted of killing a first responder, like a police officer, firefighter or paramedic.

The bill had already been narrowed once from the version Pasteur had drafted, limiting the second chance in the act to those convicted of a crime they committed between the ages of 18 and 25. An individual who appeals to the court for a reduced sentence and is denied would have to wait three years before filing another petition. Prisoners could file up to three petitions, but “an individual may not file a fourth motion to reduce the duration of the sentence,” according to the bill.