The House Courts and Criminal Code Committee heard SB 174, Sen. R. Michael Young’s bill on sentence modification sponsored by Rep. Frizzell. Sen. Young presented an amendment to the bill which the Committee adopted by consent. As amended, the bill would (1) allow persons sentenced for nonviolent crimes committed before July 1, 2014 to petition for sentence modifications without any requirement of prosecutorial consent but subject to a two petition cap with a separation of at least one year between petitions, but (2) would require persons convicted of violent offenses committed prior to July 1, 2014 to obtain prosecutorial consent for a sentence modification petition filed more than 365 days after sentencing. Public defenders testified in support of the bill, although they did not support the amendment limiting petitions by violent offenders. The bill passed as amended 10-0.
Read the bill at http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2015/bills/senate/174.