Does Louisiana Governor Care More About Criminals Than You?
Governor John Bel Edwards continues to show his liberal, leftist, 'criminal first' ideology by wielding his veto pen once again. Three new pieces of legislation aimed to help law enforcement officials battle crime and assist in criminal prosecution have all been vetoed by Governor Edwards.
House Bill 99 adds the crime of resisting a police officer with force or violence to the list of crimes or violence. VETOED
In a letter to Speaker of the House Clay Schexnayder, Gov. Edwards states:
"... this bill is antithetical to the 2017 Justice Reinvestment Effort, passed by the legislature with strong biparisan support...." "...thereby changing the calculation for earning good time for some offenders, making it more difficult for early release, no matter the severity of the offense, the threshold of which only requires a threat of force."
By all means, let's protect the criminals' rights to get out early.
House Bill 544 Provides relative to diminution of sentence and parole eligibility for fourth or subsequent nonviolent felony offenses. Meaning, after the fourth felony offense conviction, the sentence of eligibilty for parole wouldn't be lessened. VETOED
In his letter to Speaker of the House Clay Schexnayder, the Gov states:
This bill would take us in the wrong direction. First, this bill would change the calculation for earning good time for some non-violent offenders, making it more difficult for early release, no matter the severity of the offense.
Present law provides relative to contradictory bail hearings for persons in custody.
Proposed law retains present law and provides that prior to setting bail, a contradictory
hearing may be held for a person in custody for a crime of violence who is currently released
pursuant to a bail undertaking for a felony crime of violence.
Proposed law further permits the court, after receiving notice, to order the contradictory
hearing to be held within five days, exclusive of weekends and legal holidays. If the court
chooses not to hold hearing, the court must notify prosecutor.
In his letter to Speaker of the House Clay Schexnayder, Gov Edwards states:
Not only would this legislation deprive the court of it's discretion to revoke post conviction bail, it would also deprive the defendant of due process by mandating revocation based solely on an arrest, for which the defendant would be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
In response to the Governor's recent veto actions, Caddo Parish Sheriff Steve Prator told KEEL News:
I continue to be disappointed with our Governor. Both the house and senate agree to address Louisiana’s violent crime crisis and the Governor vetoes every bill and thwarts all our efforts. Such a travesty.
Bottom line... this Governor cares more about protecting the rights of criminals, and making sure they can get out of jail early, than protecting the rights and safety of you and I, Louisiana's tax paying cititzens.