The House Courts and Criminal Code Committee heard SB 64 on sentence modification, sponsored by Rep. Washburne. The bill requires a court to advise a defendant, before accepting a guilty plea, that the court will be bound by terms of a plea agreement both at the time of sentencing and with respect to sentence modification. The bill also provides that a court may not, without the consent of the prosecuting attorney, reduce the sentence of a person sentenced under a plea agreement if the reduction was not authorized by the plea agreement. The bill further provides that the prohibition against including a waiver of the right to sentence modification in a plea agreement does not prohibit finding that a person has waived the right to have a court modify a sentence in a manner contrary to the plea agreement.
The Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council testified in support of the bill, which passed 10-0.
Read the bill at: http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2018/bills/senate/64