Senate Bill 105, which passed both chambers of the General Assembly overwhelmingly and appears certain to become law (either with the Governor’s signature or because of the passage of time without her veto), increases the penalty for most second-degree murders. Second-degree murder is currently a B2 felony, but for offenses committed on or after December 1, 2012, it’s going to be a B1 felony – unless malice is established based on recklessness or the murder results from drug distribution, in which case, second-degree murder will remain a B2 offense. What follows are a couple of quick thoughts about the change, including, at the end, a couple of comments about interesting implementation issues presented by the bill. Historical context. The punishment for second-degree murder has varied quite a bit over the years. Under the Fair Sentencing Act, second-degree murder was a Class C felony. It carried a possible prison term of 0 to 50 years, with a presumptive term of 15 years. Prior to Fair Sentencing, second-degree murder was an unclassified felony, punishable by two years to life in prison. Longer sentences. According to Sentencing Commission data, the average sentence length for a conviction of a B2 felony in FY 2010/11 was 170 months minimum. By contrast, the average sentence length for a conviction of a B1 felony was 230 months minimum. Looking at it another way, for a defendant in prior record level III, the top of the presumptive range is 207 months minimum for a B2, but 317 months minimum for [...]
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