MS- Bill changes vote for parole

I can hear the equal protections under the law lawsuit coming with this new bill, soon to be law.

(Post by eAdvocate) 4-6-2009 Mississippi:

JACKSON — Convicted sex offenders and murderers will have to meet a higher standard to be paroled in Mississippi under a bill awaiting Gov. Haley Barbour’s signature.

The legislation reauthorizing the state Parole Board changes the vote needed to release inmates convicted of murder or a sexual offense. It currently only takes a simple majority on the five-member board. The bill would require a 4-1 vote.

The proposed change is a result of the furor that arose after the board voted 3-2 earlier this year to release Douglas Hodgkin from prison.

Hodgkin was convicted in 1987 of capital murder in the death of Jean Elizabeth Gillies, a University of Mississippi graduate student in speech pathology. Hodgkin, of Winchester, Ky., was a junior business major at Ole Miss at the time of the slaying.

A version of the bill that passed the Senate last month addressed parole and pardons. The legislation proposed requiring the governor to contact the district attorney’s office where the crime occurred and then schedule the hearing before granting the pardon. It also required a unanimous vote by the board to parole murderers and sex offenders.

Those provisions were eliminated when House and Senate negotiators began work on the conference report, or final version of the bill.

Sen. Alan Nunnelee, a Republican from Tupelo, said he voted against the conference report because he believes there should be a unanimous vote “on the most heinous of crimes” before a prisoner is released.

Barbour spokesman Dan Turner said the bill is under review and he didn’t know if the governor would sign it. ..News Source.. by SHELIA BYRD