By Jake Armstrong
Chattanooga Times Free Press
ATLANTA — Sen. Preston Smith’s bill plugging a gap in sentencing laws for murderers gained unanimous approval Wednesday from the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee.
Senate Bill 13 would add life without parole to the list of sentences possible for murderers convicted in non-death penalty trials.
“It’s been a three-year project for me. And I think it’s going to be a big improvement for Georgia,” Sen. Smith said Wednesday.
Current law allows a life without parole sentence only if a prosecutor pursues the death penalty -- a lengthy and costly process -- but fails to gain a unanimous recommendation for death from the jury.
Sen. Smith, R-Rome, said that can lead to unnecessary death penalty cases if prosecutors pursue the death penalty in order to reach life without parole.
It also can lead to convicted murderers who should die in prison being released on parole after 30 years, he said.
The bill now faces the challenge of amendments in the House, which led to the defeat of an identical bill last year after it was amended to allow for death sentences with non-unanimous recommendations from a jury.
“As written, the bill has broad appeal with prosecutors and criminal defense attorneys,” said Sen. Smith, himself an attorney and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “When you change this bill, it really jeopardizes its passage.”
The threat from amendments raised its head Wednesday in the House, when Rep. Bobby Franklin, R-Marietta, asked to amend the bill to include language making abortion a crime chargeable as murder.
The motion was struck down as not being relevant to the issue.
Sen. Smith said House leaders told him the bill likely will pass that chamber. His Senate colleagues said it will get their vote if it returns with no major amendments, he said.
Copyright 2009 Chattanooga Publishing Company