Vermont prosecutors urge caution on 'second look' bill, suggest revisiting 2020 sentence-reconsideration proposal

Kim McManus, legislative attorney with the Vermont Department of State's Attorneys and Sheriffs, told the House Corrections and Institutions Committee on April 24 that the department cannot endorse the current H.379 second-look sentencing proposal and urged legislators to consider a previously proposed sentence-reconsideration framework from the 2020 Sentencing Commission.

McManus said the department's statewide survey showed overwhelming opposition to second-look-style legislation: "I think the number that was given to me by the executive director was around somewhere a 75 out of a 78 opposed second look legislation in general." She described one central concern as the loss of finality in sentencing and the trauma repeated post-conviction proceedings impose on victims. "Every time that a post conviction-type hearing happens ... they then have to relive the event," McManus…