Subcommittee approves technical fixes to robbery code after debate over prior-conviction effects
HB244 makes code revisions to align robbery degrees (created in 2021) with firearm definitions and cross-references; prosecutors warned the changes could remove the ability to treat pre-2021 convictions as higher-category offenders, while sponsors said the Commonwealth can still introduce prior facts; the bill was reported 7-3.
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Chair Watts presented HB244 and provided background on the 2021 statute that created four degrees of robbery. The bill makes code corrections and clarifies which robbery degrees apply and which code sections define "firearm" for purposes of the robbery classification.
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