CHARLESTON, W.Va. —A bill to raise the mandatory minimum sentence for someone convicted of first-degree murder with mercy is moving through the Legislature.
Currently, in West Virginia, individuals convicted of first-degree murder with mercy must serve a minimum of 15 years before becoming eligible for parole. House Bill 4758, introduced last week, would change that to 25 years.
“This kind of puts us in line with other states, that if you are convicted of premeditated intentional first degree murder, even if it’s with mercy, and there are sometime where mercy may be appropriate, then it’s a 25 year minimum,” Attorney and Kanawha County Commission President Ben Salango said Tuesday on MetroNews Midday.
He said the current sentence doesn’t make sense.
“It’s just not fair, you should not be able too kill someone intentionally and with premeditation, and get out before most people can pay off a home mortgage, I’m sorry it doesn’t make sense to me so hopefully this bill will pass,” Salango said.
Salango and his family are among those calling for a change to the penalty.
His wife, Kanawha County Circuit Judge Tara Salango, was 16 when her 25-year-old brother, Todd Farley, was stabbed and killed.
Salango said that when the murderer was convicted, he was sentenced to life in prison with mercy and became eligible for parole after 10 years, and then every one to three years after that.
He expressed that even though the minimum sentence has changed, it still takes an emotional toll on the victim’s family to appear before the parole board again and again because of the uncertainty.
“The other thing is you don’t know what’s going to happen, you make your pitch and then the convicted murdered gets to speak and then they go into recess, you don’t know what’s going to happen when they come out,” Salango said. “They may let him out, they may say we’ll see you in one year or we’ll see you back in three years, that is tough on families.”
He also said parole boards often tell families they rarely grant parole to individuals convicted of first-degree murder.
“My thought has always been why put the victims through it if you’re not going to grant parole anyway why put the victims through it and make them go through these hearings every one to three years,” Salango said.
He said the bill was crafted through a collaborative effort with legislators, including Kanawha County Delegate Dana Ferrell, who introduced it.
However, he said the bill has received positive attention from many people, despite some concerns.
“It’s been overwhelming in support, quite frankly, I think a lot of people recognize that this is a serious issue, it’s a significant issue for the victims,” Salango said. “There was some concerns about whether or not the elected prosecutors in various counties would support it, I’ve not met a prosecutor yet, that’s against it.”
He said they’ve been running a letter-writing campaign to encourage elected prosecutors to submit letters. Salango added that they have a few letters he has already sent to the bill’s sponsors.
The bill was sent to the House Judiciary Committee.