BILL REQ. #:  S-1232.2 

Read first time 02/04/2005.   Referred to Committee on Judiciary.

     AN ACT Relating to persistent offenders; amending RCW 9.94A.570; adding new sections to chapter 9.94A RCW; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1   RCW 9.94A.570 and 2000 c 28 s 6 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Notwithstanding the statutory maximum sentence or any other provision of this chapter, a persistent offender, with a criminal history or current offense that includes at least one class A felony, shall be sentenced to a term of total confinement for life without the possibility of release or, when authorized by RCW 10.95.030 for the crime of aggravated murder in the first degree, sentenced to death. In addition, no offender subject to this section may be eligible for community custody, earned release time, furlough, home detention, partial confinement, work crew, work release, or any other form of release as defined under RCW 9.94A.728 (1), (2), (3), (4), (6), (8), or (9), or any other form of authorized leave from a correctional facility while not in the direct custody of a corrections officer or officers, except: (((1))) (a) In the case of an offender in need of emergency medical treatment; or (((2))) (b) for the purpose of commitment to an inpatient treatment facility in the case of an offender convicted of the crime of rape in the first degree.
     (2) Notwithstanding the statutory maximum sentence or any other provision of this chapter, a persistent offender, with a criminal history or current offense that does not include any class A felonies, shall be sentenced to a term of total confinement for life. Prior to serving a minimum term of fifteen years, no offender subject to this section may be eligible for community custody, earned release time, furlough, home detention, partial confinement, work crew, work release, or any other form of release as defined under RCW 9.94A.728 (1), (2), (3), (4), (6), (8), or (9), or any other form of authorized leave from a correctional facility while not in the direct custody of a corrections officer or officers, except in the case of an offender in need of emergency medical treatment. After serving the minimum fifteen-year term of total confinement, the offender may be eligible for community custody, earned release time, furlough, home detention, partial confinement, work crew, work release, or any other form of release as defined under RCW 9.94A.728 (1), (2), (3), (4), (6), (8), or (9), or any other form of authorized leave from a correctional facility.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 9.94A RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The fifteen-year term of total confinement imposed by the court under RCW 9.94A.570(2) constitutes the release eligibility review date at which time the court shall review the offender for conditional release to community custody.
     (2) Not less than ninety days prior to the release eligibility review date, the court shall review the person for conditional release to community custody. If the court does not release the offender, it shall set a new term not to exceed an additional two years confinement. The court shall continue biennial review for conditional release eligibility until the offender qualifies for conditional release or the offender has completed the life sentence.
     (3) In making its determination on duration of total confinement, the court shall consider the purposes, standards, and sentencing ranges adopted in this chapter, the recommendations of the sentencing judge and prosecuting attorney, statements and recommendations from the crime victims, if any, and shall attempt to make determinations reasonably consistent with those purposes, standards, and ranges. The court shall give public safety and future dangerousness in the community considerations the highest priority when making its decisions.
     (4) The court shall give adequate written reasons for its decision to grant conditional release to community custody or extend the minimum term.
     (5) The offender's eligibility for conditional release to community custody shall be subject to the terms and conditions imposed by the court for such time as the court shall designate. An offender, who breaches a term or condition of release, shall be subject to all of the procedures and remedies provided in this chapter.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 9.94A RCW to read as follows:
     In any criminal case wherein an offender has been sentenced as a persistent offender prior to the effective date of this act, the offender shall have a resentencing hearing if the offender would otherwise qualify for release under RCW 9.94A.570(2) and section 2 of this act.
     The prosecuting attorney for the county in which any offender was sentenced as a persistent offender shall review each sentencing document. If an offender was a persistent offender based on a criminal history or current offense that did not include any class A felonies, the prosecuting attorney shall, or the offender may, make a motion for relief from sentence to the original sentencing court.
     The sentencing court shall grant the motion if it finds that no current or past conviction for a class A felony was used as a basis for a finding that the offender was a persistent offender and the court shall immediately set an expedited date for resentencing. At resentencing, the court shall sentence the offender under the provisions of RCW 9.94A.570(2) and section 2 of this act.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect July 1, 2005.