An Idaho legislative panel has advanced bill that loosens minimum mandatory sentences for some drug trafficking offenses.
After two days of emotional testimony, the House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee voted 13-4 to send the measure to the House floor with a favorable recommendation.
The bill gives judges leeway to ignore the minimum sentence if an offender doesn’t pose a danger to the community, or if it would “result in manifest injustice.”
Law enforcement groups said removing mandatory minimums would open the floodgates to drug cartels overrunning Idaho. The Fraternal Order of Police says judges don’t have enough information to give them such sentencing discretion.
Republican Representative Gary Marshall, of Idaho Falls, countered that the minimums would still be in place, as nothing in the bill changes a felony to a misdemeanor.
The same bill overwhelmingly passed the House floor last year, but it never got a hearing in the Senate. (Boise State Public Radio News)
