{"id":33712,"date":"2013-03-07T21:50:14","date_gmt":"2013-03-08T01:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/miserybay.usanethosting.com\/wordpress\/?p=33712"},"modified":"2013-03-07T21:50:14","modified_gmt":"2013-03-08T01:50:14","slug":"legislative-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/legislative-update\/","title":{"rendered":"Legislative Update"},"content":{"rendered":"

from State Rep. Tom Leonard
\nI am a firm believer that one of government\u2019s most important responsibilities is the safety of its citizens. This is especially true in the case of our most vulnerable \u2013 the elderly and handicapped. Unfortunately, they often fall victim to those who view them as easy prey. As a former prosecutor, I witnessed firsthand those who not only preyed on one vulnerable adult, but expanded their crimes to multiple victims, forever altering their lives and financial futures.
\nOn February 14 I introduced my first bill in the Michigan House of Representatives, House Bill 4264. This bill strengthens a judge\u2019s sentencing powers against those who embezzle funds from multiple vulnerable adults, or commit multiple embezzlement crimes against the same vulnerable adult.
\nCurrently, if a defendant is charged and convicted of more than one count of vulnerable adult embezzlement, Michigan judges only have concurrent sentencing powers. This means that when a perpetrator targets and embezzles from multiple vulnerable adults, or commits multiple crimes against one vulnerable adult, he or she can only be sentenced to the maximum term in prison for one of the crimes, even though multiple crimes were committed, and may warrant a longer sentence.
\nHouse Bill 4264 would change the law concerning vulnerable adult embezzlement cases. Under this bill, judges would have the discretion to sentence those who receive multiple vulnerable adult embezzlement convictions to consecutive sentences. Judges would have the tools necessary to sentence the defendant on each of the crimes committed, instead of just one.
\nCrimes against our vulnerable citizens are very serious and while this legislation aims to further protect them, it is only one step in that process. I look forward to looking into other issues pertaining to crimes and sentencing against those that prey on Michigan\u2019s most vulnerable citizens.
\nRep. Leonard serves the residents of Clinton County and parts of Gratiot County. He may be contacted by phoning 517-373-1778, toll-free at 877-859-8086 or via email at TomLeonard@house.mi.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

from State Rep. Tom Leonard<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33712\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}