ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Angela Alsobrooks testified Thursday before the Maryland House Judiciary Committee in Annapolis in favor of a bill that would make solicitation of murder and conspiracy to commit murder felonies.
Currently, she said those are misdemeanors in the state.
House Bill 778 would change that.
“These are two very serious offenses that absolutely should be felonies,” Alsobrooks said.
The bill would also do away with the three-year statute of limitations and would add to the penalty, providing a sentence of up to life in prison.
Alsobrooks cited the 2005 case of 17-year-old Stacey Seaton, the contract killing of a pregnant Maryland teenager in which her office was unable to bring the solicitation of murder charge because the statute of limitations had run out.
“In that case we were not able to charge solicitation and we were not able to get the sentence that we thought was appropriate,” she said.
Alsobrooks is hopeful the bill will pass in this session, which ends in April.
