No. SB 892
Filed under Criminal Justice.
Habitual Felony Offenders, Habitual Violent Felony Offenders, Three-time Violent Felony Offenders, and Violent Career Criminals; Revising the definitions of the terms “habitual felony offender,” “habitual violent felony offender,” “three-time violent felony offender,” and “violent career criminal”; revising the procedures that a court must follow in separate proceedings to determine whether a defendant is a habitual felony offender, a habitual violent felony offender, a three-time violent felony offender, or a violent career criminal, etc.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDThe bill deletes the requirement that a defendant has not received a pardon or had a conviction set aside in a postconviction proceeding. This change applies to all four repeat-offender categories, including habitual felony offenders and violent career criminals.
A new rule states that a conviction for which the defendant has been pardoned or set aside in a postconviction proceeding is not a conviction for purposes of this section. This language replaces the specific pardon and postconviction defenses previously listed in the definitions.
Courts must now serve written notice on the defendant or the defendant’s attorney before the commencement of trial or entry of a plea. This replaces the previous requirement that notice be served a sufficient time prior to the entry of a plea or sentencing.
The bill removes the requirement that each finding required as the basis for such sentence shall be found to exist by a preponderance of the evidence. This deletion applies to the separate proceedings for all four repeat-offender categories.
AIA defendant who has been pardoned or whose prior conviction was set aside in a postconviction proceeding can now be classified as a habitual felony offender, habitual violent felony offender, three-time violent felony offender, or violent career criminal, because the bill deletes the prior exclusions and adds a new rule that such a conviction is not a conviction for purposes of the section.
AICourts no longer have a statutory requirement that each finding supporting a repeat-offender sentence be made by a preponderance of the evidence, and the prior statutory grant of appealability for those findings is deleted, leaving the standard and appeal rights to be determined by other law or case law.
AIThe state must now serve written notice on the defendant or the defendant's attorney before the commencement of trial or entry of a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, replacing the prior requirement of notice a sufficient time prior to the entry of a plea or prior to the imposition of sentence to allow preparation of a submission on behalf of the defendant.
AIThe bill replaces 'shall' with 'must' and 'if' with 'whether' in the procedural provisions for all three separate proceedings, which is a drafting-style change that does not alter the mandatory nature of the duties or the conditional structure of the findings.