Wallin Misreads Law, Wrongly Accuses Kilmartin
Stephen Beale, GoLocalProv Politics Editor
Wallin Misreads Law, Wrongly Accuses Kilmartin
Republican Attorney General candidate Erik Wallin blasted Democrat Peter Kilmartin yesterday for voting to reduce sentences of sex offenders. Except it turns out that Kilmartin did no such thing, according to a review of legislative records.
“When the prison door swings open early and a convict re-offends, that means one sad but simple truth, another innocent person has been victimized. Representative Kilmartin’s vote to apply the good behavior statute to sex offenders is nothing short of reprehensible,” Wallin said.
"As a former RI felony state prosecutor, I’ve had to look into the eyes of victims: children, spouses, and parents and answer why the system failed them, why the felon that victimized them did so when they should have still been in prison,” Wallin added. “Having never been a felony prosecutor, Representative Kilmartin didn’t have to face those families as the prosecutor. Instead, he supports letting sex offenders out too early.”
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The bill that Kilmartin voted on did expand sentence reductions for offenders who exhibit good behavior, but it specifically exempted sex offenders from the new provisions. (Click here to read the law. See also excerpt below; note the first line.)
In order to make things crystal clear, the lawmakers added additional language saying that the old sentence reductions did apply to sex offenders. Wallin mistook that as a change, rather than a clarification in the existing law, according to Kilmartin. “There is a reason he did not rise above the level of junior prosecutor, because he can’t read statutes and (understand) statutory construction,” Kilmartin told GoLocalProv.
“Sending out reckless press releases without knowing the facts and not doing his homework does a disservice to voters,” Kilmartin added. “It’s misleading at best and a lie at worst.”
Yesterday, Wallin spokesman Mark Adelman dismissed the criticism, saying Wallin’s bigger point was that sex offenders should not get any sentence reductions.
“Since 2008, sex offenders have been eligible to receive and have received ‘good time’ credit, for example, in engaging in institutional industries, i.e., work, all of which reduces their overall sentence. This is a practice still conducted by the Department of Corrections today,” Adelman said in an e-mail.
He added: “Erik’s position is that other felons such as violent felons and those that commit domestic violence offenses and sex offenders should no longer receive good time credit of any type—that this statute should be repealed completely. The fact that this practice continues is why Erik supports its repeal.”
Excerpt from House Bill 7751Aaa
