A bill allowing for harsher penalties for people who commit felonies which lead to the deaths of others gained the approval of a legislative committee Friday.
The Assembly Committee on Judiciary passed the bill on for a full Assembly vote in a seven-to-one decision.
The legislation, known as the "Tommy Burns Law" — named for a Viroqua man who died as the result of an injury he sustained in an altercation with another man last year — would give prosecutors the option of requesting stiffer sentences for felons convicted of violent crimes where the parameters of the case do not qualify for murder charges.
"What this is trying to do is make it easier for prosecutors to ask for longer sentences [than] what was previously allowed by law," state Rep. J.A. Hines, R-Oxford, a co-sponsor of the legislation said. "It would allow for the expansion of the list of felonies that are subject to felony murder charges."
In Burns' case, Terry Peterson was convicted of felony aggravated battery and felony intimidation of a victim; however, prosecutors could not charge Peterson with intentional homicide because forensic evidence could not prove Peterson willfully tried to kill Burns. A maximum sentence of eight years in prison and 16 years probation was handed down in the case.
But state Rep. Lee Nerison, R-Westby, felt the conviction should have resulted in a longer sentence because Burns' death was the direct result of Peterson's criminal actions. Nerison then drafted the Tommy Burns Law in response.
"There is still the nagging feeling that, if this ever happens again, there should be more options to make sure justice is served," Nerison said in a previous release. "Hopefully, this bill is the last chapter of this tragedy."
Nerison said the punishment for such acts should match the severity of the crime, adding Burns' family felt re-victimized after Peterson was sentenced. According to a release, this legislation would have allowed the addition of up to 15 more years to Peterson's sentence if it were in place at the time of the case.
Felonies listed in the legislation as crimes that could warrant a sentence extension include first-degree and second-degree reckless homicide, battery, mayhem, false imprisonment and kidnapping, if a person dies in the commission of such an act.
However, opponents of legislation seeking to increase jail and prison sentences for crimes say it is a drain on the state resources in Wisconsin.
"The state has added on many, many years with enhancements and additions to criminal penalties such that our jail populations have tripled," state Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, said.
Black added it is "politically popular" for legislators to draft bills that make the state look tough on crime, but such legislation comes at the expense of state finances — the budget for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections has quadrupled as a result of this type of legislation.
"The major victim of the increased corrections budget has been the university [system] because the corrections funding has exploded," Black said, adding it costs the state about $30,000 to house a single prisoner in a penitentiary.
Conversely, another author of the bill, Sen. Dan Kapanke, R-La Crosse said the bill would help law enforcement officials and prosecutors to carry out justice.
"The police, prosecutor, and judge all did their jobs right in the Peterson case," Kapanke said in a release. "Unfortunately, his victim's family and friends may never feel that justice has been served, but we can make sure that these types of violent attacks are treated appropriately in the future."
