An Act To Improve Sentencing for Serious Offenders
Maine Legislature, Session 122, LD 0970
Committee: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Sponsors: GREELEY
Amends: 17-A MRSA §1203, 17-A MRSA §1252, 17-A MRSA §1256, 17-A MRSA §1322

Legislative Document 
No. 970 
H.P.680 
House of Representatives, February 24, 2005 
An Act To Improve Sentencing for Serious Offenders 
Reference to the Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety suggested and ordered 
printed. 
Presented by Representative GREELEY of Levant. 
Printed on recycled paper 
Il/~ /h. 7l!tU:~ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 17-A MRSA §1203. sub-§l-A. ~D is enacted to read: 
~~Q. person iQ...-.Ji~nJ;en..c1'!d_t_Q __ ~Lj;;t;L~:m of imprisonmen~:n9.Jl~ 
of which is suspended, which is followed by one or more 
consecutive terms of imprisonment that are suspended either 
in whole or in part, the court may revoke probation in any 
of the consecutive sentences for criminal conduct committed 
during any period of imprisonment that precedes commencement 
of the period of probation. 
Sec. 2. 17-A MRSA §1252. sub-§4-A. as repealed and replaced by 
PL 2003, c. 688, Pt. A, §14, is amended to read: 
4-A. 
If the State pleads and proves that, at the time any 
crime, 
excluding murder, 
under chapter 
9, 
11, 
or 
e~L 
section 402-A, 
subsection 1, paragraph A; 
or section 752-A or 
752-C was committed, the defendant had been convicted of 2 or 
more crimes violating chapter 9, 11, 13 or 27 
e~L section 402-A, 
subsection 
1, 
paragraph 
Aj 
or 
section 
752-A 
or 
752-C 
or 
essentially similar crimes in other jurisdictions, the sentencing 
class for the crime is one class higher than it would otherwise 
be. 
In the case of a Class A crime, the sentencing class is not 
increased, 
but 
the 
prior 
record 
must 
be 
given 
serious 
consideration by the court when imposing a sentence. 
Section 9-A 
governs the use of prior convictions when determining a sentence, 
except that, for the purposes of this subsection, for violations 
under 
chapter 
11, 
the 
dates 
of 
prior 
convictions 
may 
have 
occurred at any time. 
This subsection does not apply to section 
210-A if the prior convictions have already served to enhance the 
sentencing class under section 210-A, subsection 1, paragraph C. 
Sec. 3. 17-A MRSA §1256. sub-§l. as amended by PL 1999, 
c. 
458, §1, is further amended to read: 
1. 
Other provisions of this section notwithstanding, when a 
person 
subject 
to 
an 
undischarged 
term 
of 
imprisonment 
is 
convicted of a-¥~~~~~~~-&ee~ieR-~~-A~--~~~-~F-~§~-~-~~-aRY 
e~Re~-~~~~~~~-~Re-~~~~-a-~-~~-~ae-~~~-~~-~ae 
iRS~i~~~ieR-~~-~~~~~-~&¥i~~-pe~seR-wa£-~~~~~-~~-a 
vie±a~ieR-~~-£€£~~~~--Sg&-~l~~-~eve£RmeR~--~~~F~Y-~~-~ae 
iRS~i~~~ieR-~~~~-~Re-£~¥~£~~-~r~-was-~~~£~~-~~-aRY 
e~Re~-~~~-a~a~~£~--~~VeF&me&~-~~~~-iR--~~-~~~~~~~-iR 
wRieR-~ae-€eRVi€~eQ-pe~SeR-was-imp£iseReQT any new crime or of an 
attempt to commit any e~-~~e-~~~~-~-~-~-~Ri&-s~esee~ieR 
new crime, the sentence is not concurrent with the undischarged 
terms of imprisonment. 
The court may order that the undischarged 
terms of imprisonment be tolled and service of the nonconcurrent 
sentence commence immediately and the court shall so order if any 
undischarged term of imprisonment is a split sentence. 
We 
portion of the nonconcurrent sentence may not be suspended. 
All 
sentences that the convicted person receives as a result of the 
crimes mentioned in this subsection must be nonconcurrent with 
all other sentences. 
Sec. 4. 17-A MRS A §1322, sub-§3, as repealed and replaced by 
PL 1993, c. 305, §l, is amended by amending the first paragraph 
to read: 
3. 
Economic 
loss. 
"Economic 
loss" 
includes 
economic 
detriment consisting of environmental clean-up expense, property 
loss, 
allowable expense, 
work 
loss, 
replacement services loss 
and, 
if 
injury 
causes 
death, 
dependent's 
economic 
loss 
and 
dependent's replacement services loss. Noneconomic detriment is 
not loss. Economic detriment is loss although caused by pain and 
suffering 
or 
physical 
impairment. 
"Economic 
loss" 
includes 
expenses 
of 
an 
emergency 
response 
by 
any 
public 
agency 
anQ 
critical investigation expenses. 
1O 
Sec.s. 17-A MRSA §1322, sub-§3, ~A-l is enacted to read: 
A-I. 
"Critical investigation expense" 
means 
a 
necessary 
e~pense incurred by 
a 
p~~lic agency or 
by 
a 
person or 
organization while 
investigating or prosecuting suspected 
cr iminal 
conduct. 
"Cr i tical 
investigation 
expense" 
lcncludes,~.ut is not limited to, the cost of an audit or 
other financial analysis when that analysis is necessary to 
determine whether and to what extent a victim has suffered 
financial harm from criminal conduct by an employee or other 
person in a position of trust and the cost of analysis of 
physical 
evidence 
including 
suspected 
illegal 
drugs. 
"Cr i tical inve~~ig9.ti_9n~lill-en.s.~~ges not include the hourly 
pay, salary or benefits of law enforcement personnel or the 
ordinary administrative costs of a law enforcement agency. 
SUMMARY 
This bill makes the following changes to the sentencing laws. 
1. 
The bill authorizes the court to revoke probation for a 
crime committed by an inmate who is serving a 
not 
include probation, 
if the 
inmate 
also 
sentence that includes a period of probation. 
sentence that does 
has 
a 
consecutive 
2. 
The bill specifies that an inmate who commits any crime 
while sentenced may have that sentence interrupted and serve the 
sentence 
for 
the 
new 
crime 
immediately. 
Currently, 
that 
authority exists only for 
inmates 
who 
commit 
crimes 
against 
corrections staff or institutional property. 
3. 
This bill further expands the list of violent crimes for 
which the classification may be increased for violent offenders 
to include assaults against law enforcement officers, corrections 
officers and emergency medical workers. 
4. 
For purposes of determining economic loss that may be 
compensated 
by 
an 
order 
of 
restitution, 
this 
bill 
defines 
"critical 
investigation 
expense." 
"Critical 
investigation 
expense" includes those necessary expenses incurred by a public 
agency, person or organization while investigating or prosecuting 
suspected criminal conduct.