GOVERNOR'S VETO

Pursuant to Article V, Section 6, of the Constitution of Virginia, I veto SB 561, which prohibits the conditional release of geriatric prisoners due to age if they were convicted of a felony act of violence and subject to a protective order at the time of the offense or after the offense, but prior to being released from incarceration for the offense, and the victim of the felony offense was the protected person under the protective order.

I am of the view that this bill in its current form poses serious constitutional concerns in light of the Virginia Supreme Court's decision in Angel v. Commonwealth, 281 Va. 248, 704 S.E.2d 386 (2011) (citing Graham v. Florida, 500 U.S. 48 (2010)), where the Court noted that geriatric parole provides a meaningful opportunity to obtain release for incarcerated juveniles.

Senate Bill 561 fundamentally alters Virginia's parole system as it pertains to the exclusion of juveniles from geriatric release. This bill would not provide a meaningful opportunity to obtain release for juveniles. As the U.S. Supreme Court held in Graham v. Florida, 500 U.S. 48 (2010), the Eighth Amendment's Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause prohibits life sentences without parole for juveniles who have committed a non-homicide crime.

I presented amendments to bring this bill into compliance with precedents of the U.S. and Virginia Supreme Courts. The amendments served to maintain the Parole Board's discretion regarding the appropriateness of an inmate's release from prison, including removal of language pertaining to the potential issuance of protective orders up until the time of release from prison. Unless amended, this provision could afford a victim the ability to seek a protective order against an inmate (even years after the offense), thus potentially overruling Parole Board decisions regarding geriatric release. Such a protective order process could lead to litigation.

It is the Parole Board's duty to carefully weigh an inmate's eligibility for geriatric release. This bill potentially strips that discretionary decision-making process and places Virginia's parole system into question.

Accordingly, I veto this bill.

GOVERNOR'S RECOMMENDATION

1. Line 11, enrolled, after 16.1-253

strike

the remainder of line 11, all of line 12, and through order on line 13

2. Line 16, enrolled, after release.

insert

The exclusion set forth in clause (ii) shall not apply to any person who is serving a life sentence for any crime other than homicide who was under the age of 18 at the time of commission of the crime.