Montpelier
The House panel voted, 6-5, to advance the bill. Now it goes to a vote on the House floor on Thursday.
The legislation, which has been drafted over the course of two weeks, would change more than a century of case law around criminal attempts.
It would lower the threshold for what constitutes an attempt by allowing prosecutors to apply a “substantial step analysis” as opposed to proving an overt act as is currently required.
The steps include: lying in wait, enticing a victim, casing out a site for the crime, collecting materials to be used to commit the crime, and engaging an accomplice.
Under S.267, courts could hand down a life sentence for an attempted violent crime. Judges are allowed to hold suspects without bail.
As it stands, some lawmakers and prosecutors have argued, a would-be school shooter would have to be walking toward a school with a loaded gun in order for it to qualify as an attempt under current law.
“I think that we’ve managed to pass out a bill that addresses the underlying issues that we are trying to address,” said Rep. Martin LaLonde, D-South Burlington, who is reporting the bill to the full House.
The Vermont Supreme Court decided on April 11 that the attempt charges against Jack Sawyer, 18, who was arrested on allegations he plotted an attack on Fair Haven Union High School, were not legally applicable to his actions. The court ruling encouraged the Legislature to revisit the criminal attempt laws.
Prosecutors have since dropped those felony charges, including attempted aggravated murder, and have brought two new misdemeanor charges. He now faces up to three years in prison, as opposed to life in prison, and now is being held on $10,000 bail.