House backs sex-offender bill
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Attorney General Bill Sorrell and Rep. Maxine Grad, D-Moretown, chat during debate Thursday on the sex-offender bill. AP |
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By DAVE GRAM The Associated Press - Published: February 20, 2009
MONTPELIER — Eight months after the rape and killing of a 12-year-old girl, the Vermont House voted overwhelmingly Thursday to advance a wide-ranging bill to crack down on sex crimes against children.
The bill, already passed by the state Senate, came in response to the slaying of Brooke Bennett of Braintree. Her uncle, 42-year-old Michael Jacques of Randolph, faces federal charges in her killing. He could get the death penalty if convicted.
It gained preliminary approval in the House on Thursday, by a 131-to-2 vote. Republican Reps. Anne Donohue of Northfield and Duncan Kilmartin of Newport voting against it.
The bill would create a new crime of aggravated sexual assault on a child, carrying a mandatory 25-year minimum sentence, and expand special investigative units devoted to sex crimes, among dozens of other provisions.
Floor debate on the measure before the House lasted into Thursday evening. By about 6 p.m., House members were debating an amendment that would speed up the introduction of new materials in schools designed to warn children about sexual predators.
"This bill provides a comprehensive opportunity for us to take significant steps forward in the protection of our children and the prosecution of those who offend against our children through crimes of sexual violence," said Rep. William Lippert, D-Hinesburg, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, introducing the measure to his House colleagues Thursday afternoon.
The House is expected to give the bill final approval Friday. From there, it would move to a conference committee to work out differences between the House and Senate versions.
Chief among them:
The Senate version would halt the practice of allowing defense lawyers to take sworn statements from child victims of sex crimes in pretrial depositions. The House Judiciary Committee amended that to say a judge could order such a deposition in extraordinary circumstances.
The Senate version would end the use of deferred sentences — meaning no jail time — and probation for a series of sex crimes. The House version would bar a deferred sentence only when the charge is the new crime of aggravated sex assault on a child.
Proposals for changes were expected when the bill comes up for final House action on Friday. Rep. David Zuckerman, P-Burlington, said he would offer one to strip from the measure provisions expanding the number of people required to give DNA samples for storage in a state database.
Vermont law requires people convicted of a felony to give a DNA sample; the bill passed by the Senate and approved by the House Judiciary Committee would expand the DNA requirement to cover anyone for whom a judge had found probable cause to charge with a felony or with a misdemeanor sex or domestic abuse crime.
Zuckerman said he shared a concern voiced by the American Civil Liberties Union Vermont chapter that requiring a DNA sample from someone who has not been convicted of a crime violates the principle of innocent until proven guilty.
Zuckerman voted in support of the bill when it was up for preliminary approval. One of the two who voted no, Kilmartin, explained his vote by saying the bill "violates the Vermont Constitution and injures innocent citizens."
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