“Second Chance Act” moves toward final vote to become law

A bill that would give men sentenced to life without a parole a second chance at freedom is now just one vote away from becoming law.

SB156 by Sen. Will Barfoot, R-Pike Road, creates a process for judicial review for imprisoned men who were sentenced under the outdated “Habitual Felony Offender Act.” The bill commonly known as the “Second Chance Act” originated from Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, several years ago and Gov. Kay Ivey made the bill part of her platform at this year’s “State of the State” address.

The bill would allow an incarcerated individual sentenced under the HFOA before May 26, 2000 to file a motion for a judge to review and consider reducing his sentence. The bill carves out caveats: no individual is eligible for this review if they were convicted of murder, attempted murder, a sex offense or a crime that caused physical injury to another individual. 

An amendment added to the bill by the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday gives the attorney general a chance to review all motions made under the act, as well as an opportunity to be heard on the motion. The bill already provides that the district attorney and victims be heard. The amendment also requires the judge to give “considerable weight” to any “objection or support for resentencing” by the district attorney, and to whether a firearm was used in the commission of the crime. The bill already required the judge to give considerable weight to the testimony of any victims of the crime.

The amendment also added reporting requirements to compile data on the act with the Alabama Sentencing Commission.

Rep. Matt Simpson, R-Daphne, voiced his opposition to the bill.

“The fundamental argument of ‘we just want to give people a second chance,'” Simpson said. “I firmly disagree that someone who has three prior felonies, one of those being a Class A Felony, and then gets out and commits another one of those offenses that I’ve named to you, deserves more of a chance to continuously come to court and continuously drag the victims through the process … The Alabama Legislature really wants arsonists, robbers, burglars, kidnappers, traffickers and manufacturers to have another shot at getting out of prison.”

The bill now moves other the full House for consideration. A version of this bill has passed on the House floor before, making it three-fourths of the way through the Legislature before failing to come before the Senate.

Last year, however, this bill fell just short of the votes needed to overcome a procedural hurdle in the House, ending the bill’s chances. The main difference between this bill and that one is Ivey’s backing.