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 Regulations. The Public Act offered to modify a number of provisions of the State's criminal laws. One of the most significant adjustment, however, was an amendment to M.C.L. § 333.7413( 1) as well as (2 ). Those areas enforced additional charges upon individuals convicted of a 2nd narcotics-related offense. While the need for a sentencing enhancement for 2nd or subsequent culprits at all is open for debate, the regulation, before the passage of the bill, called for the imposition of mandatory life sentence, without the opportunity of parole, for a second violation of possession with intent to provide more than 50 grams of cocaine, or, about 2/5 the weight of a bar of Dove Soap.

The Old System: Under the existing law, which will not longer hold after March 28, 2018, if a person has ever before been founded guilty of a narcotics relevant crime involving 50 grams or more of a controlled substance, a second sentence, under the old version of the statute, enforced a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole. The only other crime in Michigan that has such a sentence is First Degree Murder. Simply put, the law, before this modification, dealt with 2 sentences for possessing with the intent to sell or supply, actually providing, or producing 50 grams of cocaine or an equal, in the same manner as a premeditated murder, or killing a law enforcement officer in the line of duty. The old scheme was instituted in the 1980s, specifically, the statute M.C.L. § 333.7413 was last amended in 1988, when the US Governments, as well as the States, were in the center of the "War on Drugs" and were setting up severe penalties for all narcotics associated offenses. Since that time, the majority of States, and also the Federal Government, have minimized penalties for certain, low-level drug offenses, even for repeat culprits. Michigan's old repeat drug transgressor sentencing provisions had not caught up with the brand-new scheme.

The New Scheme: Under the new version of the bill, the repeat narcotics culprit sentencing stipulations have actually been changed as well as decreased. Most notably, the mandatory lifer stipulations regarding narcotics offenses have actually been eliminated. To put it simply, a person convicted of a 2nd or subsequent drug offense can no longer be sentenced to life without the opportunity of parole. Rather, the 2nd or succeeding offense can subject the person to a maximum sentence of up to 2 times that otherwise enforced by the statute. Given the lengthy sentences that are imposed for possession with intent to deliver cocaine, delivery of cocaine, and manufacturing of cocaine, those double-time sentences can still be considerable, however there is no mandatory life imposition, and there is the possibility of a probationary sentence instead of prison, and also eligibility for parole. These are considerable and also crucial changes for anybody that is dealing with charges for narcotics-related offenses, and a vital development that any kind of criminal defense lawyer managing these situation must know about. The new adjustments to the law will become effective on March 28, 2018. The legislation does not suggest whether it will certainly be applicable retroactively or not, though typically, such legislations are not considered to apply to cases that were closed before enactment.