All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[Tami]

In case anyone ever says I never speak badly about Democrats.....

Murphy vetoes landmark criminal justice bill but AG ends many mandatory minimum sentences

wait for it

Gov. Phil Murphy on Monday conditionally vetoed a landmark criminal justice bill that would end mandatory minimum sentences for certain nonviolent crimes after a controversial amendment was added to it.

But Attorney General Gurbir Grewal immediately issued a directive that would end many of the mandatory minimum sentences.

now

But it drew scrutiny from Murphy after Sen. Nicholas Sacco, D-Hudson, quietly added an amendment to the bill eliminating mandatory minimums sentences for official misconduct, which is sometimes used to prosecute politicians, police officers and other public workers.

The son of Sacco’s girlfriend is facing an official misconduct offense for allegedly submitting false timesheets in North Bergen, where Sacco is the mayor.

Thank you, Gov Murphy

“During our year-and-a-half-long push to eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug and property crimes, the legislation was amended in a way that would have eliminated mandatory prison sentences for a number of public corruption offenses, including official misconduct. After much deliberation, I have determined that I cannot sign this bill,” Murphy said in a statement.

Since the amendment, Murphy has publicly said he did not support the bill if it applied to official misconduct charges. If Murphy did not take action on the bill by Monday, it would have become law.