Senate Judiciary Committee advances meritorious-furlough change and approves range of criminal, technical bills

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Oct. 27 voted to bar people convicted of second-degree murder from receiving meritorious furlough and advanced several other criminal-justice and technical corrections measures, moving multiple bills to the next stage of the legislative process.

The most contested item, Senate Bill 214, would amend eligibility for the Department of Corrections’ meritorious-furlough program to explicitly make those convicted of second-degree murder ineligible. Proponents, including Sen. Joshua Bryant and victim advocate Kendall Green, said the change responds to a case in Fayetteville in which a person convicted of second-degree murder participated in unsupervised furloughs.

"All I ask is that for the time in which he serves to remain in prison, no amount of good behavior can bring back Trenton's life, and no amount of good behavior can make my child have a father," Kendall Green told the committee, describing her son’s father’s 2018 murder and her distress at learning the convicted man had been granted furlough.

Why it matters

Supporters said the change addresses a gap between the Department of Corrections’ meritorious-furlough rules and the public expectation that people convicted of serious violent crimes not receive short unsupervised releases. Sen. Bryant told the committee that the intent is to add second-degree murder to the list of disqualifying offenses because, while not premeditated murder in the first…