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Public defenders and families urge legislative changes, data and retroactivity
Summary
Tennessee public defenders and family members described cases where non-killers received longer sentences than perpetrators and called for statutory tweaks, retroactive relief and better data; defenders proposed reclassifying felony murder or narrowing criminal responsibility.
Patrick Froge, executive director of the Tennessee District Public Defenders Conference, laid out how felony-murder and criminal-responsibility statutes interact with plea bargaining and sentencing, arguing the result can be life sentences for people who did not commit the homicidal act. "When I look at the statute, I'm saying, you know, what is it about this that can lead everybody here to be correct and yet people still feel so aggrieved?" he asked.
Family members and people who were incarcerated testified about individual cases: Shawna Hatcher described her husbandserving life-plus terms though she said he did not commit the killing; Betty Sanders asked lawmakers to make proposed changes retroactive and specifically referenced SB1170. Froge and others asked the committee to seek county-level case and outcome data and to consider statutory options such as making felony murder second degree in some circumstances or narrowing the elements for criminal responsibility.
