Committee debates mandatory minimums for attacks on correctional officers; one bill reported to finance

Delegate Doug Cornett introduced two bills to the Senate Courts of Justice Committee that would explicitly add correctional officers to code sections carrying existing mandatory minimums and to the aggravated-murder subsection that carries a life term, citing a fatal attack at River North Correctional Center as the impetus.

Cornett said the bills “add corrections officer to the code section with other public safety officers” to ensure the same mandatory minimums apply when they are the victim. He described the proposals as intended to conform to existing law for other first responders.

Senator Barry Perry questioned whether the change was redundant, noting existing language that already criminalizes the willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing of any person by a prisoner confined in a correctional facility. Counsel replied that moving the provision into subsection A6 makes the mandatory minimum term of life explicit for ‘‘anyone’’ who kills a correctional officer, not only a prisoner acting while in custody.

Testimony included an online opponent who questioned the committee’s broader approach to mandatory minimums and supporters including James Hemmings, a volunteer firefighter, and Nathan Green of the Virginia Association of Commonwealth Attorneys, who said the measure ‘‘makes it a mandatory life for someone who kills a correctional officer like if they had killed a law enforcement officer.’’

After testimony and technical questions about statutory placement and penalties, the committee moved to report one of the measures and re-refer it to the Finance Committee. A roll call showing the committee’s vote on the reporting motion was recorded in the hearing transcript.