Parole bill cosponsored by Cool Rumsey
passes Senate
The legislation (2013-S
0361),
which passed the Senate yesterday and will now be sent to the House of
Representatives, would apply the 50 percent sentence rule only to sentences of
less than life in prison.
The need for the bill, according to Senator Cool Rumsey and the bill’s primary sponsor, Sen. Leonidas P. Raptakis (D-Dist. 33, Coventry, East Greenwich, West Greenwich), became apparent last year when parole was granted to Alfred A. Brissette Jr., who served only 15 years of a 35-year sentence for the murder of a Woonsocket woman in 1999.
In another local case, Andrew Jett, was freed on parole
after serving only 18 years of a 40-year sentence for the 1992 killing of his
girlfriend, Stephanie Oxendine. In August 2012, while on parole, he was
arrested for allegedly murdering another girlfriend, Michelle Busby.
“Parole certainly has its place as an incentive that
encourages prisoners to follow rules and participate in their rehabilitation,
but it shouldn’t be applied so broadly that murderers are back in the community
after serving less than half of their sentence,” said Senator Cool Rumsey
(D-Dist. 34, Charlestown, Exeter, Hopkinton, Richmond, West Greenwich).
“Justice is just not served when someone commits a crime as heinous and serious
as first- or second-degree murder, and they are walking free after serving a
relatively small part of it. Those sentences should be meaningful.”
Other cosponsors include Sen. William A. Walaska
(D-Dist. 30, Warwick), Sen. Frank S. Lombardi (D-Dist. 26, Cranston) and Sen.
Marc A. Cote (D-Dist. 24, Woonsocket, North Smithfield). Similar legislation (2013-H 5145) has been introduced
in the House by Rep. Patricia A. Serpa (D-Dist. 27, West Warwick, Coventry,
Warwick).
