An Act To Eliminate the 3-step Sentencing Procedure Relating to the Imposition of Sentencing Alternatives That Include Imprisonment
Maine Legislature, Session 122, LD 1516
Committee: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Amends: 17-A MRSA §253, 17-A MRSA §1251, 17-A MRSA §1252, 17-A MRSA §1252-C, 17-A MRSA §1252-D

Legislative Document 
No. 1516 
H.P.1061 
House of Representatives, March 30, 2005 
An Act To Eliminate the 3-step Sentencing Procedure Relating to 
the Imposition of Sentencing Alternatives That Include 
Imprisonment 
Reported by Representative BLANCHETTE of Bangor for the Criminal Law Advisory 
Commission pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 17-A, section 1354, subsection 2. 
Reference to the Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety suggested and ordered 
printed under Joint Rule 218. 
Printed on recycled paper 
11'/~ 1/1. 7lldl:~ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 17-A MRSA §253, sub-§6, as amended by PL 2001, c. 383, 
§20 and affected by §156, is repealed. 
Sec. 2. 17-A MRSA §1251, 2nd" as enacted by PL 1999, c. 536, 
§l, is amended to read: 
Insetting the length of imprisonment, if the victim is a 
child who had not in fact attained the age of 6 years at the time 
the crime was committed, a court shall assign special weight to 
this objective fact 
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€iFss-sseF-e€-~he-6eB~eaeia~-FEeeess and to any subjective victim 
impact in exercising its sentencing discretion. 
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Nothing in this paragraph may be construed 
to restrict a court in setting the length of imprisonment from 
considering the age of the victim in other circumstances when 
relevant. 
Sec. 3. 17-A MRSA §1252, sub-§5-B, as enacted by PL 1999, c. 
536, §2, is amended to read: 
5-B. 
In using a sentencing alternative involving a term of 
imprisonment for 
a 
person convicted of the attempted murder, 
manslaughter, elevated aggravated assault or aggravated assault 
of a child who had not in fact attained the age of 6 years at the 
time the crime was committed, a court shall assign special weight 
to 
this 
objective 
fact 
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i~FFise~eas-~6-~~-~~~&-sSeF-~B-~~-&&&&&&G~~-FFeeess and to 
any 
subjective 
victim 
impact 
in 
exerc~s~ng its 
sentencing 
discretion. 
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FFeeess... 
Nothing in this subsection may be construed to restrict 
a court in setting a sentence from considering the age of the 
victim in other circumstances when relevant. 
Sec. 4. 17-A MRSA §1252-C, as enacted by PL 1995, c. 69, §l, 
is repealed. 
Sec.5. 17-A MRSA §1252-D is enacted to read: 
§1252 D. 
Sentencing procedure relating to imposition of 
imprisonment 
Page l-LR2208 (l) 
The procedure for imposition of a sentence that includes a 
term of imprisonment relative to murder or a Class A, 
B or C 
crime must be 
as set forth in the Maine 
Rules of Criminal 
Procedure, Rule 32(a) 
(3) and as determined by the Law Court in 
cases involving appellate review of sentences. 
SUMMARY 
The bill removes from the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 17-A 
the statutory requirement that courts engage in a specific 3-step 
process for determining sentences of imprisonment with respect to 
murder and Class A, 
Band C crimes. 
The 3-step process was 
enacted by the Legislature in 1995 and is based, almost verbatim, 
upon the so-called Hewey analysis first set forth by the Maine 
Law Court in the 1993 case of State y. Hewey, 622 A.2d 1151 (Me. 
1993). 
Specifically, 
the bill repeals 
and 
replaces Title l7-A, 
section 1252-C, which required trial courts to follow the 3-step 
Hewey analysis when imposing sentences of imprisonment for murder 
and Class A, Band C offenses. 
The new section provides that 
when imposing such sentences, trial courts must adhere to the 
procedure set forth in the Maine Rules of Criminal Procedure, 
Rule 32(a)(3), which requires that reasons for a sentence be set 
forth on the record, and to the case law developed by the Law 
Court 
in 
the 
exercise 
of its appellate 
review 
of 
sentence 
function. 
The bill also repeals Title 17-A, section 253, subsection 6, 
which set forth specific lengths of incarceration to be assigned 
in the 2nd step of the Hewey sentencing process for gross sexual 
assault offenders who 
had prior convictions for gross sexual 
assault and required that such incarceration not be suspended in 
the 3rd step of the process. 
In practice, sentences for gross 
sexual assault offenders who 
have prior convictions for gross 
sexual 
assault 
are 
so 
long 
that 
the 
minimum 
lengths 
of 
incarceration under Title l7-A, section 253, subsection 6 rarely 
came into play. 
Moreover, recently enacted Title 17 -A, section 
1252, subsections 4-B and 4-C call for enhanced penalties for 
gross sexual assault offenders who have prior Class B or Class C 
convictions 
for gross 
sexual assault or 
for 
unlawful 
sexual 
contact. 
In addition, the bill removes a requirement in Title 17 -A, 
section 1251 that in murders involving children under the age of 
6, the age of the victim be given special weight in the first 
step 
of 
the 
Hewey 
sentencing 
process 
and 
replaces 
that 
requirement with an instruction to trial courts to give special 
weight 
to 
the 
victim's 
age 
in 
exercising 
their 
sentencing 
discretion. 
The new language is similar to language that already 
appears elsewhere in the Maine Criminal Code with regard to other 
aggravating factors. 
Finally, the bill amends, in similar fashion, Title 17-A, 
section 1252, subsection 5-B, giving special consideration in the 
3-step process to the age of the victim with respect to sentences 
for attempted murder, manslaughter, elevated aggravated assault 
and aggravated assault committed against a child under 6 years of 
age.