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Senate committee advances bill to require 85% time served for accessories to murder
Summary
The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced House Bill 1001, authored in the Senate as a memorial measure named for Laura Bridal and Ashley Freeman, to require people convicted as accessories to felony murder to serve 85% of their sentence. Senators debated whether post‑crime accessories should carry the same mandatory minimum as principals.
The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced House Bill 1001 on a 7-1 vote after a floor explanation and questions about scope and intent.
Senator Thompson, the bill’s author, told the committee the measure is named for Laura Bridal and Ashley Freeman, "who were kidnapped, tortured, raped, and murdered in 1999" and said the act "would add accessory to felony murder in the first or second degree to the list of crimes that would require an offender to serve . . . 85% of their prison sentence." The sponsor said the change is intended in part to deter people who withhold information from law enforcement in cases that result in death.
Senator Brooks pressed the sponsor on the statutory difference between a principal and an accessory, noting that an accessory commonly provides aid after the crime. "To be guilty of being an accessory typically that's after the fact," Brooks said, and asked why an after‑the‑fact aider should face the same 85% mandatory time served as someone who planned or committed the killing. Thompson replied the bill uses the current definition of accessory that covers persons who "knew or reasonably should have known that the act committed would cause death of the victim," and argued that those circumstances merit the increased percentage.
Brooks raised additional concerns about plea bargaining, observing prosecutors sometimes reduce charges to accessory in plea negotiations. Thompson said the bill does not address plea negotiation practice directly but focuses on time‑served requirements for the accessory offense.
The clerk called the roll after the author waived closing remarks. The roll call recorded Senators Boren, Brooks, Yack, Standridge, Gallihard, Daniels and Howard as voting aye; the measure was recorded as having 7 ayes and 1 nay and declared passed by the chair for the committee.
The committee record shows the measure advanced to the next stage; the bill text as explained would add accessory to murder to offenses with an 85% minimum time‑served requirement. The transcript does not identify which senator cast the single nay vote.
