Lansing Passes 2017 PA 265 Removing Automatic Mandatory Life Sentencing for Drug Offenders

On December 28, 2017, the Michigan Legislature and Governor Snyder sent out 2017 PA 265 to the Secretary of State for entry into the Michigan Compiled Legislations. The Public Act offered to modify a variety of provisions of the State's criminal laws. One of the most substantial modification, however, was an amendment to M.C.L. § 333.7413( 1) as well as (2 ). Those sections imposed extra penalties upon individuals founded guilty of a 2nd narcotics-related infraction. While the need for a sentencing enhancement for second or subsequent culprits at all is open for debate, the law, before the passage of the bill, needed the imposition of mandatory life sentence, without the possibility of parole, for a second offense of possession with intent to deliver greater than 50 grams of cocaine, or, about 2/5 the weight of a bar of Dove Soap.

The Old Plan: Under the current legislation, which will not much longer be in effect after March 28, 2018, if an individual has ever before been founded guilty of a narcotics associated infraction involving 50 grams or more of a dangerous drug, a second conviction, under the old version of the statute, imposed a required life sentence without the possibility of parole. The only other criminal offense in Michigan that has such a sentence is First Degree Murder. Simply put, the law, before this change, treated 2 convictions for possessing with the intent to sell or provide, actually supplying, or producing 50 grams of cocaine or an equal, similarly as a premeditated murder, or killing a police officer in the line of duty. The old system was instituted in the 1980s, specifically, the statute M.C.L. § 333.7413 was last amended in 1988, when the US Governments, and the States, were in the center of the "War on Drugs" and also were instituting extreme penalties for all narcotics related offenses. Since that time, the majority of States, as well as the Federal Government, have actually minimized penalties for certain, low-level drug offenses, even for repeat transgressors. Michigan's old repeat drug culprit sentencing provisions had actually not caught up with the brand-new scheme.

The New Scheme: Under the new version of the bill, the repeat narcotics wrongdoer sentencing provisions have actually been modified as well as lowered. Most significantly, the required lifer provisions regarding narcotics offenses have been removed. Simply put, an individual founded guilty of a 2nd or subsequent drug infraction can no longer be sentenced to life without the opportunity of parole. Rather, the second or succeeding violation can subject the person to a maximum sentence of up to 2 times that otherwise imposed by the law. Given the prolonged sentences that are imposed for possession with intent to deliver cocaine, shipment of cocaine, and production of cocaine, those double-time sentences can still be considerable, but there is no mandatory life imposition, and there is the possibility of a probationary sentence in lieu of prison, and also eligibility for parole. These are considerable and also important changes for anybody who is dealing with charges for narcotics-related offenses, and an essential development that any type of criminal defense attorney managing these instance needs to understand about. The brand-new changes to the regulation will become effective on March 28, 2018. The legislation does not show whether it will certainly be applicable retroactively or not, though usually, such legislations are not considered to apply to instances that were closed before implementation.