An Act To Amend the Laws Relating to Probation and Supervised Release for Sex Offenders
Maine Legislature, Session 123, LD 1736
Committee: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Sponsors: GREELEY, TIBBETTS, McCORMICK
Amends: 17-A MRSA §1203, 17-A MRSA §1206, 17-A MRSA §1231, 17-A MRSA §1349, 34-A MRSA §5404, 34-A MRSA §9888

Legislative Document 
No. 1736 
H.P.1219 
House of Representatives, March 26, 2007 
An Act To Amend the Laws Relating to Probation and Supervised 
Release for Sex Offenders 
Submitted by the Department of Corrections pursuant to Joint Rule 204. 
Reference to the Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety suggested and ordered 
printed. 
Presented by Representati ve PLUMMER of Windham. 
-;r;~ 1/7. 7T!d£~ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Cosponsored by Representatives: GREELEY of Levant, TIBBETTS of Columbia, Senator: 
McCORMICK of Kennebec. 
Printed on recyckd paper 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 17-A MRS A §1201, sub-§l, ~A-l, as amended by PL 2005, c. 265, §7, 
is further amended to read: 
A-I. The conviction is for a Class D or Class E crime other than: 
(1) A Class D or Class E crime relative to which, based upon both the written 
agreement of the parties and a court finding, the facts and circumstances of the 
underlying criminal episode giving rise to the conviction generated probable 
cause to believe the defendant had committed a Class A, Class B or Class C 
crime in the course of that criminal episode and, as agreed upon in writing by the 
parties and found by the court, the defendant has no prior conviction for murder 
or for a Class A, Class B or Class C crime and has not been placed on probation 
pursuant to this subparagraph on any prior occasion; 
(2) A Class D crime that the State pleads and proves was committed against a 
family or household member under chapter 9 or 13 or section 506-B, 554, 555 or 
758. As used in this subparagraph, "family or household member" has the same 
meaning as in Title 19-A, section 4002, subsection 4; 
(3) A Class D or Class E crime in chapter 11 or 12; 
(4) A Class D crime under section 210-A; 
(5) A Class D or Class E crime under section 556, section 854, excluding 
subsection 1, paragraph A, subparagraph (1), or section 855; 
(6) A Class D crime in chapter 45 relating to a schedule W drug; or 
(7) A Class D or Class E crime under Title 29-A, section 2411, subsection I-A, 
paragraph B. 
Sec. 2. 17-A MRSA §1203, sub-§l-A, ~ 
is enacted to read: 
D. If execution of the sentence is stayed, the court may revoke probation for criminal 
conduct committed during the period of stay or for failure to report as ordered. 
Sec.3. 17-A MRSA §1206, sub-§10 is enacted to read: 
10. If a probation revocation proceeding results in the court vacating a part of the 
suspension of execution as to imprisonment while the person is in execution of the initial 
unsuspended portion of the sentence, the portion of imprisonment to be serve as a result 
of the vacating commences only after the initial unsuspended portion of imprisonment 
has been fully served. If separate probation revocation proceedings result in the vacating 
of 2 or more parts of the suspension of execution as to imprisonment on the same 
sentence, the portions to be served must be served successively. 
Sec. 4. 17-A MRS A §1231, sub-§6, as amended by PL 2005, c. 673, §2, is 
further amended to read: 
6. 
The court may revoke a period of supervised release pursuant to section 1233 for 
any ground specified in subsection 7. If the court revokes a period of supervised release, 
the court shall require the person to serve time in prison under the custody of the 
Department of Corrections. This time in prison may equal all or part of the period of 
supervised release, without credit for time served on post-release supervision. 
The 
remaining portion of the period of supervised release that is not required to be served in 
prison remains in effect to be served after the person's release and is subject to revocation 
at a later date. 
Sec. 5. 17-A MRSA §1231, sub-§7 is enacted to read: 
7. The court may revoke a period of supervised release for: 
A. A violation of supervised release; 
B. Criminal conduct committed during the term of imprisonment; or 
C. Refusal during the term of imprisonment to actively participate, when requested 
to do so by the Department of Corrections, in a sex offender treatment program in 
accordance with the expectations and judgment of the treatment providers. 
Sec. 6. 17-A MRSA §1349, sub-§l, ~A, as enacted by PL 2003, c. 711, Pt. A, 
§ 19, is amended to read: 
A. The statute that the person is convicted of violating expressly provides that the 
fine and imprisonment penalties penalty it authorizes may not be suspended, in which 
case the convicted person must be sentenced to the imprisonment and re~ired to pay 
the fine authorized therein; 
Sec. 7. 17-A MRS A §1349-D, sub-§4, as amended by PL 2005, c. 265, §18, is 
further amended to read: 
4. 
If during the period of administrative release the attorney for the State has 
probable cause to believe that the person placed on administrative release has violated a 
requirement of administrative release, the attorney for the State may apply for a warrant 
for the arrest of the person. Unless sooner released, the court shall provide the person 
with an initial appearance on the revocation of administrative release within .f.4 2. days 
after arrest. A copy of the motion must be furnished to the person prior to or at the initial 
appearance. The initial appearance is as provided in section 1205-C, subsection 4. Bail 
is as provided in section l205-C, subsections 5 and 6. 
Sec. 8. 32 MRS A §13723, sub-§7, ~A, as amended by PL 1991, c. 274, §2, is 
further amended to read: 
A. 
Prescriptions, orders and records required by this chapter and stocks of 
prescription and legend drugs are open only to the board, the board's inspectors and 
investigators, federal and state law enforcement officers whose duty it is to enforce 
the laws of this State or of the United States relating to scheduled drugs or controlled 
substances or to enforce conditions of probation or other supervision imposed by a 
court relating to scheduled drugs or controlled substances and other law enforcement 
officers authorized by the board or the Attorney General for the purposes of 
inspecting, investigating and gathering evidence of violations of law or any rule of 
the board. Ne An officer having knowledge by virtue of the officer's office of any 
such prescription, order or record may not divulge that knowledge, except before a 
licensing or registration board or officer or in connection with a prosecution or 
proceeding in court. 
Sec. 9. 34-A MRSA §5404, sub-§2, as amended by PL 2005, c. 488, §§23 and 
24, is further amended to read: 
2. Arrest. Arrest, after completing the entry level and orientation training course 
prescribed by the commissioner, in the following circumstances: 
A. Arrest violators of probation or supervised release for sex offenders and parole 
violators and return parole violators upon request of the commissioner; 
B. Arrest and return to a correctional facility persons released from the correctional 
facility under section 3035 or transferred from the facility under section 3036-A; afH:i 
C. If the officer has probable cause to believe that a person under the supervision of 
the department has violated a condition of that person's probation, supervised release 
for sex offenders, parole or intensive supervision, the officer may arrest that person; 
and 
D. 
Arrest for a violation of Title 17 -A, section 751 a person who intentionally 
interferes by force, violence or intimidation or by any physical act with a probation 
and parole officer performing or purporting to perform an official function; 
Sec. 10. 34-A MRSA §9888 is enacted to read: 
§9888. Administrative preliminary hearing 
Whenever it appears that a person accepted for supervlSlon under this compact 
arrested for an alleged violation of a supervision condition is entitled under the compact 
to a determination of whether there is probable cause to believe the person has violated a 
condition of that person's supervision, the determination must be made at an 
administrative preliminary hearing meeting the requirements of the compact and held 
before an official designated by the Commissioner of Corrections within 5 days after the 
arrest, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. 
SUMMARY 
This bill amends the law relating to probation and supervised release for sex 
offenders as follows. The bill: 
1. Provides that if a stay of execution is given by a court on a term of imprisonment 
on a split sentence, the court may revoke the subsequent probation for criminal conduct 
committed during the stay or for failure to report as ordered; 
2. Clarifies that if probation is partially revoked on more than one occasion on the 
same sentence the periods of imprisonment imposed are successive and that a period of 
imprisonment imposed on a partial revocation does not commence until the initial 
unsuspended portion of imprisonment has been fully served; 
3. Adds to the provisions for supervised release for sex offenders provisions similar 
to those for probation regarding revocation for criminal conduct during imprisonment or 
failure to cooperate with sex offender treatment during imprisonment; 
4. Allows probation officers to see pharmacy records of probationers and others 
under the officers' supervision as the result of a court order on the same basis as other law 
enforcement officers; 
5. 
Gives probation officers the power to arrest for obstruction of government 
administration those who interfere with them while they are performing their official 
functions; 
6. Sets out explicitly the "plead and prove" requirement that federal constitutional 
law requires whenever the available sentencing alternatives depend on the crime 
committed; 
7. Adds a cross-reference in the provision governing revocation of supervised release 
for sex offenders; 
8. Removes the prohibition on administrative release when there is a mandatory fine 
provision as the imposition of administrative release is not inconsistent with the 
imposition of a fine; 
9. 
Makes the timeline for an initial appearance on an administrative release 
revocation consistent with the timeline for an initial appearance on a probation 
revocation; and 
10. Makes it clear that probable cause determinations for persons transferred from 
other jurisdictions for probation or parole supervision in Maine are done administratively 
since the Maine courts have no role in the imposition of supervision or the revoking of 
supervlSlon.