Committee weighs H.41 changes on burial, transport and desecration of dead bodies; defenders urge narrower penalties

Marshall Paul, deputy defender general and chief juvenile defender at the Office of the Defender General, told the Judiciary Committee that his office has not found a factual gap that requires new aggravated offenses in H.41 and urged separating permitting errors from serious criminal conduct.

"From our office's perspective, the aggravated offenses are not necessary," Paul said, describing a review of case law and interviews with long-serving public defenders. He said existing charges such as obstruction of justice and accessory statutes already reach conduct intended to conceal a crime.

The committee heard that Vermont's current law on private burials (Title 18 ' '5211) is unusually permissive. Paul said Vermont allows people to file a death certificate and bury a relative on private land without the involvement of a funeral director and with minimal permitting: "The permitting process for transporting a torch, preparing a corpse, and burying a corpse on private property is actually less of a permitting process than it takes to put a garden shed in your backyard." He added that the present penalty for failing to comply with the filing requirement is a five-year felony, which his office considers disproportionate…