Opinion ID: 2374050
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Improper Legislative Delegation

Text: Finally, we analyze the issue of prosecutorial discretion from the perspective of legislative delegation. It was argued in Batchelder that in promulgating the statutory provisions at issue, the legislature impermissibly delegated its responsibility to fix criminal penalties. In Batchelder, the Court flatly rejected this argument, finding that the provisions plainly demarcate the range of penalties that prosecutors and judges may seek and impose. In light of that specificity, the power that Congress has delegated to those officials is no broader than the authority they routinely exercise in enforcing the criminal laws. Batchelder, 442 U.S. at 126, 99 S.Ct. at 2205. No further requirement of legislative guidance was imposed, nor were any guidelines, such as are set forth in section 1312-C, incorporated into the statutory scheme upheld in Batchelder. As in Batchelder, the contested statutory provisions in this case plainly demarcate the range of penalties that prosecutors and judges may impose and therefore satisfy the constitutional requirement that there be sufficient standardsspecific or generalized, explicit or implicit to prevent the arbitrary and irresponsible exercise of power by those entrusted with it. See Superintending School Committee of the City of Bangor v. Bangor Education Association, 433 A.2d 383, 387 (Me.1981). We note, once again, that the present case is distinguishable from Batchelder in that the competing statutory provisions here are identical rather than merely overlapping. To the extent that such a distinction retains meaning after Batchelder, we find that the mandatory and optional guidelines specified in subsections 5 and 7 supply sufficient standards to comply with the requirements of due process in the context of an analysis of the delegation of legislative authority. Defendant's constitutional challenge to his conviction fails. The entry must be: Judgment of conviction affirmed. GODFREY, ROBERTS, CARTER and VIOLETTE, JJ., concurring.