217.692. Eligibility for parole, offenders with life sentence, when--criteria. - Missouri Statutes

Eligibility for parole, offenders with life sentence, when--criteria.

217.692. 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to thecontrary, any offender incarcerated in a correctional institution servingany sentence of life with no parole for fifty years or life without parole,whose plea of guilt was entered or whose trial commenced prior to December31, 1990, and who:

(1) Pleaded guilty to or was found guilty of a homicide of a spouseor domestic partner;

(2) Has no prior violent felony convictions;

(3) No longer has a cognizable legal claim or legal recourse; and

(4) Has a history of being a victim of continual and substantialphysical or sexual domestic violence that was not presented as anaffirmative defense at trial or sentencing and such history can becorroborated with evidence of facts or circumstances which existed at thetime of the alleged physical or sexual domestic violence of the offender,including but not limited to witness statements, hospital records, socialservices records, and law enforcement records;

shall be eligible for parole after having served fifteen years of suchsentence when the board determines by using the guidelines established bythis section that there is a strong and reasonable probability that theperson will not thereafter violate the law.

2. The board of probation and parole shall give a thorough review ofthe case history and prison record of any offender described in subsection1 of this section. At the end of the board's review, the board shallprovide the offender with a copy of a statement of reasons for its paroledecision.

3. Any offender released under the provisions of this section shallbe under the supervision of the parole board for an amount of time to bedetermined by the board.

4. The parole board shall consider, but not be limited to thefollowing criteria when making its parole decision:

(1) Length of time served;

(2) Prison record and self-rehabilitation efforts;

(3) Whether the history of the case included corroborative materialof physical, sexual, mental, or emotional abuse of the offender, includingbut not limited to witness statements, hospital records, social servicerecords, and law enforcement records;

(4) If an offer of a plea bargain was made and if so, why theoffender rejected or accepted the offer;

(5) Any victim information outlined in subsection 7 of section217.690 and section 595.209, RSMo;

(6) The offender's continued claim of innocence;

(7) The age and maturity of the offender at the time of the board'sdecision;

(8) The age and maturity of the offender at the time of the crime andany contributing influence affecting the offender's judgment;

(9) The presence of a workable parole plan; and

(10) Community and family support.

5. Nothing in this section shall limit the review of any offender'scase who is eligible for parole prior to fifteen years, nor shall it limitin any way the parole board's power to grant parole prior to fifteen years.

6. Nothing in this section shall limit the review of any offender'scase who has applied for executive clemency, nor shall it limit in any waythe governor's power to grant clemency.

7. It shall be the responsibility of the offender to petition theboard for a hearing under this section.

8. A person commits the crime of perjury if he or she, with thepurpose to deceive, knowingly makes a false witness statement to the board.Perjury under this section shall be a class C felony.

9. In cases where witness statements alleging physical or sexualdomestic violence are in conflict as to whether such violence occurred orwas continual and substantial in nature, the history of such allegedviolence shall be established by other corroborative evidence in additionto witness statements, as provided by subsection 1 of this section. Acontradictory statement of the victim shall not be deemed a conflictingstatement for purposes of this section.

(L. 2007 H.B. 583)