The Akron Legal News

Proposed bill would allow for longer sentences in certain murder convictions

TIFFANY L. PARKS
Special to the Legal News
Published: March 26, 2015

A bill that would adjust sentencing requirements for aggravated murder convictions has been introduced into the Ohio General Assembly.

House Bill 57, sponsored by Rep. Ron Maag, R-Lebanon, would generally increase the current aggravated murder penalties of life imprisonment with parole eligibility after serving certain numbers of years and would expand sentencing possibilities.

The measure also would add a new aggravating circumstance to the current aggravating circumstances that must be specified in the indictment.

“A constituent of mine, Sandy Cates, came to me after her 18-year-old son, Justin Back, was brutally murdered in his own home by two fellow teenage boys in January of last year,” Maag said in sponsor testimony for the bill before the House Judiciary Committee.

“Over the past several months I’ve learned many great things about Justin. He was very excited to be in the delayed entry program for the Navy. He was scheduled to start boot camp just a month after his murder. Justin was a loving son and brother, great student and loyal friend.”

With Back’s murderers being 19, Maag said his parents were shocked to learn that if they were found guilty of aggravated murder with specifications, the assailants could receive a life sentence with the possibility of parole after serving 25 years, meaning they could be released when they were 44.

Current Ohio law allows for the trial court to impose the following sentences on offenders found guilty of aggravated murder: life without parole, life with parole eligibility after serving 20 years, 25 years or 30 years, and, if found guilty of one or more specifications, death.

“We decided that more options should be available to prosecutors and judges,” Maag said.

HB 57, which has been dubbed “Justin’s Law,” would expand the possibilities for aggravated murder sentencing to life without parole, life with parole eligibility after serving 25 years, 30 years, 35 years, 45 years or 55 years.

If one or more specifications were involved, the possibility of receiving the death penalty would remain.

“As you can see, we’ve increased the first step of life with parole eligibility by five years and added an additional two steps,” Maag said.

Under current law, if an offender also is convicted of a sexual motivation specification and a sexually-violent predator specification that are included in the indictment or information, the trial court must impose a sentence of life imprisonment without parole.

HB 57 would remove this requirement if the offender raised the matter of age pursuant to current law and was found at trial to have been a minor at the time of the offense.

In addition, Justin’s Law would make pre-meditated murder on its own a specification for aggravated murder.

Concerning aggravating circumstances not found to outweigh mitigating factors, a bill summary of HB 57 states that if, upon consideration of the relevant evidence and other materials, a jury does not unanimously find by proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating factors, the jury generally must recommend that the offender be sentenced to one of the following: life without parole or life with parole eligibility after serving 30 years, 35 years, 45 years or 55 years.

With regard to an offender under the age of 18, if the offender raised the matter of age at trial and was convicted of aggravated murder and one or more specifications of an aggravating circumstance and was found at trial to have been a minor at the time of the offense, the court or the panel of judges could not impose the death penalty,

HB 57 would repeal a provision of existing law that requires, if the offender also is convicted of a sexual motivation specification and a sexually-violent predator specification that are included in the indictment or information that charged the aggravated murder, a sentence of life imprisonment without parole to be imposed.

The proposed legislation also would usher in conforming changes in current law pertaining to resentencing hearings, definite prison terms, sexually-violent predator specification, sentencing for sexually-violent predator specification, application of sexually-violent predator sentencing to searches without a warrant and risk assessment reports for violent offenders.

At the close of his testimony, Maag thanked Cates and her husband, Mark, for attending the hearing.

“We are fighting for this in Justin’s honor and their strength to fight to improve Ohio law for other families who may go through this unfortunate experience is inspiring,” he said.

[Back]