In light of a recent rash of violent home invasions, legislators are again trying to create a law that would put criminals behind bars longer.
A bill that will be introduced in the Maryland House of Delegates this week by Del. Susan Lee (D-Dist. 16) of Bethesda aims to create a criminal statute establishing home invasions as a violent crime punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
Violent home invasion robberies are increasing in jurisdictions across the state, Lee and police officials from Montgomery and Baltimore City said Wednesday.
In Montgomery, police recorded 24 such crimes in 2011. In Baltimore, police are seeing more home invasions involving weapons and perpetrators posing as police officers to gain access to houses, said Jim Green, director of special projects for the department.
While a common term, a home invasion cannot be prosecuted as a specific offense. Police charge such crimes as burglary or robbery, which carry maximum sentences of 20 years and 15 years, respectively.
“This is a very disturbing crime not only because it involves a perpetrator invading the sanctity of the home, but also taking control of its occupants and then proceeding to commit very brutal crimes such as murder, mayhem, robberies, sexual assaults, rapes and leaving the family and the victims totally shattered and devastated,” Lee said.
The call for a home invasion law rings similar to the push for a state carjacking statute after the 1992 death of Pamela Basu of Savage, who was dragged to death as she tried to save her 22-month-old daughter from two carjackers, said Montgomery County State’s Attorney John J. McCarthy.
The Maryland State’s Attorneys Association wants the new law so police and prosecutors can get a more accurate picture of perpetrators’ criminal past at a quick glance, said William Katcef, an assistant state’s attorney for Anne Arundel County.
“If I can look at someone’s rap sheet and see home invasion, I can see what that person is all about,” he said.
McCarthy agreed. “If you look at the word burglary, that can mask and cover a lot of things, but it doesn’t tell you that this is a person who broke into a home, confronted another human being, robbed them, raped them, violently assaulted them. It’s sort of truth in labeling.”
McCarthy said strengthening of the state’s criminal code comes in response to tragic incidents like the Jan. 11 home invasion in the Maplewood neighborhood of Bethesda, where a woman and her son were bound as their housekeeper was sexually assaulted in an adjacent bathroom.
Lee started her crusade to create the law after Jose Garcia-Perlera was sentenced to life in prison for murder and other crimes stemming from four home invasions targeting elderly women in the Bethesda area in 2007 and 2008. This is the third year she has introduced a bill to stiffen penalties for these crimes.
Allen Myers, president of the Maplewood Citizens Association, said these and other high-profile cases should prompt legislators to act. “Just as the criminals have changed their tactics, so our laws must change to reflect the reality of crimes that are being committed,” he said.
The Jan. 11 home invasion was tragic for the victims and had far-reaching effects, Myers said.
“While it only involved one home, all 950 families in the homes in the community of Maplewood felt violated.”
dgaines@gazette.net
