Politics & Government

House Rejects Governor's 'Three-Strikes' Amendment

The governor on Saturday sent 'Melissa's Bill' back to the Legislature.

Gov. Deval Patrick set in motion a wave of criticism when he proposed an amendment to the "three strikes"/Melissa's Bill on the grounds that it lacked sufficient provisions for judicial discretion. 

Warning of possible unintended "unjust consequences" that can arise from mandatory sentencing laws, Patrick wrote in a letter to the Legislature, "None of us is wise or prescient enough to foresee each and every circumstance in which the new habitual offender provisions may apply."

On Monday afternoon, the House rejected Patrick's amendment by a vote of 132-23, according to The Boston Globe.

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The bill's fate is up in the air, as the legislature's summer session will end Tuesday at midnight. The governor has not indicated whether he would veto a crime bill that doesn't have his proposed amendment. 

Critics accuse Patrick of vetoing a good anti-crime bill by asking for amendments that only protect offenders. 

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"Governor Patrick has had a busy week defending the interests of those who break the law...," said Sen. Bruce Tarr, the state senate's minority leader. "His actions to jeopardize the passage of the crime bill are both ill-timed and ill-advised by trying to amend a good and balanced bill with an extraordinary measure to protect repeat violent criminals, with precious little time remaining in the legislative session."

The state's largest police union, the New England Police Benevolent Association, also had strong words for the governor: "The Governor's actions at the 11th hour are reprehensible and reckless.  It will be on his conscience 'when'—not if—the next innocent victim or public safety officer is killed in the line of duty by a career criminal, if he fails to sign this bill which is designed to protect the most vulnerable from serial predators." 

Dubbed "Melissa's Law," after Melissa Gosule, the 27-year-old Jamaica Plain schoolteacher who was raped and murdered in 1999 by a felon who had 27 previous convictions, the bill eliminates parole for someone convicted three times of one of 40 or so violent crimes, with at least one conviction having carried a minimum three-year prison term. It was was .

The bill has been discussed widely over the years, but was renewed after was killed by a violent felon during an armed robbery in 2010. Officer Maguire's family has backed the bill heartily, .  

The Senate has Monday and Tuesday—the end of the Legislative session—to try to vote on the amendment.


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