Crowley Lawmaker’s Bill to Give Life Sentence for Fentanyl Possession Advances in Louisiana Legislature
BATON ROUGE, La. (KPEL News) - In an overwhelming vote in support of the bill, Louisiana House members of the Administration of Criminal Justice Committee passed Crowley Representative John Stefanski's bill that would give a life sentence for possessing large amounts of fentanyl.
The bill - HB 90 - would give the lengthy sentence to those in possession of 28 grams or more of fentanyl, as outlined in the legislation:
Proposed law provides that upon conviction of present law for an aggregate weight of less than 28 grams, the offender shall be imprisoned at hard labor for not less than five years nor more than 40 years and may, in addition, be required to pay a fine of not more than $50,000.
Proposed law further provides that upon conviction of an aggregate weight of 28 grams or more, the offender shall be sentenced to life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.
Present law authorizes the court to suspend any sentence imposed upon a defendant and place the defendant on probation upon conviction of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl or carfentanil or possession of fentanyl or carfentanil.
Proposed law retains present law for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl or carfentanil of an aggregate weight of less than 28 grams, distribution which causes serious
bodily injury, and possession of fentanyl or carfentanil.
Only one lawmaker voted against the bill - Chairman Joe Marino of Gretna - in a 12-1 committee vote. There are concerns by some criminal justice advocates that the bill reaches too far.
“If the penalties we already prescribed for possession with intent to distribute aren’t doing enough deterrence, generally, raising the already draconian punishments even higher isn’t going to have much effect either,” said Keny Levy, a criminal law expert at the LSU Law Center in this lailluminator.com article.
WAFB points out that Stefanski, though, says his legislation is meant to punish the suppliers and is not intended to target the users.
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