The House has passed HB 14, a bill that makes certain sex-related crimes more serious. It partially closes the loophole in Alaska law made famous by Justin Schneider.
Schneider is the Anchorage man who strangled to unconsciousness a woman and then ejaculated on her. Schneider walked free because he was given credit for time served for wearing an ankle monitor during his months of legal troubles that resulted from his crime.
Schneider picked up the woman at a gas station in Spenard and offered to give her a ride to her home to Muldoon. Instead, he detoured to a dead end street in the nearby Turnagain neighborhood, where he struck her to the ground, strangled her to unconsciousness, and masturbated onto her. Then he left her to fend for herself and his gooey mess, and drove off.
Schneider spent just a few weeks in jail, but the rest of his “custody” was at his parents’ house in Homer, where he was on house arrest awaiting sentencing.
HB 14, sponsored by Rep. John Lincoln, is similar to SB 12, offered by Sen. Peter Micciche, which is currently under consideration in Senate Finance Committee.
The two bills came in response to the legal loophole allowing serious criminals to walk free without jail time, as Schneider did last September. That case garnered such attention that a local movement was born. For the first time in Alaska history, a judge was removed by voters, even though he was simply following the law passed by the Alaska Legislature to allow ankle monitor time to count toward a sentence.
HB 14 classifies unwanted contact with ejaculate as a sex crime, which means perpetrators can be required to register as sex offenders, and makes strangulation to the point of unconsciousness an assault in the first degree, which carries a sentence of 5 to 20 years. It also makes such strangulation an aggravating factor during sentencing. The bill makes it clear that a “dangerous instrument” can be hands or other body parts used to strangle another person.
Failing to pass the House was Amendment 2, offered by Rep. Lance Pruitt. That amendment stated that a court may not grant credit for time served in a private residence or under electronic monitoring, unless that person has spent time in a treatment program.
Pruitt argued that with electronic monitoring being used for credit, defense attorneys can run out the clock for their clients by using judicial tricks of the trade, which means people convicted of these serious crimes can still avoid jail time.
But lawyer Rep. Matt Claman argued against that amendment.
The vote for the amendment went along caucus lines, with all members of the Democrat-led majority voting against it except for Rep. Geran Tarr.
Republicans, who are in the House minority, voted for the amendment.
With that amendment defeated the bill passed with all members present voting for it, with the exception of Rep. David Eastman, who said it needed more work because it was creating new, unintended loopholes that could sweep in innocent people.
[Read: Micciche, Lincoln bills filed to close Schneider loophole]
Remember: The victim never went to court or appeared to state anything. All was stated by others, attorneys and the legislatures. So, this piece of legislation in the law will eventually be amended to a reality that you can’t show here because you are still in LaLa Land trying to pass a bill and overlook the fact that SB91 needs to be repealed. Why? Because the real story will eventually come out and when it does, it will be very different then what was narrated by your so-called experts. The “cronies” need to go!
All that being said, I sincerely hope we can all agree that choking somebody out until they become unconscious and then masturbating on them should land a person in jail for a certain amount of time. That is as long as it is not consensual.
Really? The victim did not say a thing! Are you so sure that is what happened? You only have hearsay!! There were no comparable cases or any other facts brought up by any legislative committee, just “experts” that assumed and stated but did not know exactly. The committee members got wrapped up in a “soap-box” atmosphere. So, what is interesting is that things will change when the victim finally shows up for trial……looks like the prospect of money has gotten her attention.
Schneider pleaded guilty to choking and masturbating on a woman.
That’s… not how hearsay works. The victim filed a criminal complaint and signed off on a sworn statement of her allegations, made to the investigating officers and the prosecutor.
That sworn statement is first-person evidence, not “hearsay,” regardless of how it is entered into the record.
Given Schneider pleaded guilty, I’m not sure where your objection comes from.
Why are you so terrible? Jack-attack?! Gooey mess. If you pretend to be a reporter then grow up and act like one.
You certainly need to get the terms right before making the entire episode a part of sex-ed classes. Wouldn’t want the kids to learn of such in the gutter, like we did. Heheh!
Disgusted: have you no sense of humor? Suzanne leads the best reporting service in the state, and scoops stories that the major dailies won’t touch. (eg. the real reason Governor Walker abandoned his campaign over issues of sexual misconduct by Byron Mallott). How did that story make you feel??? Disgusted? So then, Democrats just shove it under the rug?
What is truly “disgusting” is the hypocracy, sophistry and brashness that is embraced by you Lefties. It has become so predictable and widely employed that Suzanne tempers her stories with some humor and hyperbole so that we can have a wee bit of fun with you, the idiots in the Democrat party.
HB-14 will NOT apply to Schneider for his past crime. No ex post facto law applications allowed. He walks. Hopefully, straight past land’s end.
I hope Schneider catches a bus.
Comments are closed.