For Immediate Release
NOVEMBER 12, 2010
Contact: Kevin Smith
Phone: (603) 571-4710
Email: director@nhcornerstone.org
Manchester, NH – Today, according to a report in Union Leader, a violent offender who was released nine months early under the new SB500 law, re-offended just four days after his release and has been charged with possession of stolen property and felon in possession of a firearm. The offender, Mark Ouellette, was originally sentenced for two to four years on a robbery charge. His maximum sentence date would have occurred on August 1, 2011, which allowed him to be released November 1, 2010 under SB500.
Ouellette was arrested by authorities at a Taco Bell in Manchester. Last month, during a heated debate in a late session of the State Senate, Manchester Senator, Lou D’Allesando emphatically stated, “As a….state senator who presides over some of the most dangerous, crime filled neighborhoods in the city of Manchester, I can stand here today and tell you SB500 makes New Hampshire a safer place than it was before this bill was enacted.”
Similarly, during his bid for re-election this year, Governor Lynch’s campaign issued a press release stating that the new law did not apply to criminals convicted of violent offenses.
Commenting on this latest incident as a result of the new SB500 law was Cornerstone Action Director, Kevin Smith: “What is it going to take for folks like Governor Lynch and Senator D’Allesandro to take their heads out of the sand and finally admit to their mistake on passing SB500, as many others have already done. Clearly, this new law is not making New Hampshire’s communities safer, rather, it has put the public at immediate risk. As public safety should trump all other policy measures, we strongly encourage the new legislature to make fixing SB500 priority number one.”
Cornerstone-Action is the legislative and issue advocacy arm of Cornerstone Policy Research.
Cornerstone Policy Research is a non-partisan, non-profit education and research organization dedicated to the preservation of strong families, limited government and free markets.
