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This story was corrected on Dec. 19

 Between 2005 and 2007, county judges lessened the sentences of 13 murderers and seven rapists along with those of nearly 500 other criminals, according to Montgomery County Circuit Court records.

Not one of those sentence changes, known as reconsiderations, was reported to the state Commission on Criminal Sentencing Policy which is charged with monitoring the controversial process, according to David Soulé, executive director of the panel.

"Montgomery County doesn't seem to send us those," he said, noting that many judges statewide have complained about the handwritten reporting forms. "To be honest, we're only really getting them from Prince George's County. It's definitely an issue and it's something that the sentencing commission has been working on."

Statewide, the group received notice of 133 reduced or modified sentences between 2005 and 2007, according to commission data.

A violent state

Critics of reconsideration, a rule unique to Maryland, say the provision affords second chances to criminals over the rights of victims. They also say lenient sentencing, combined with a generous policy for good behavior, are at play in Maryland's ranking as the eighth most violent state, according to 2006 data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Some county police officers and friends of a Gaithersburg woman killed in April — allegedly by a man who slashed the throats of three people nine years ago and was released from prison early on a reduced sentence and good behavior credits — are banding together to pursue a change in state law.

The case of Shawn M. Henderson, 26, charged with murder in the shooting of Lindsay Harvey, has become a battle cry for the ad hoc group.

"It's bad enough that Lindsay's death resulted from the actions of this vicious, violent street criminal, but to know that it was allowed to happen because of the failings of our criminal justice system is just appalling," said David Udoff of Montgomery Village, a friend of Harvey's.

A review of court data shows that Montgomery Circuit Court judges received more than 3,000 requests to reconsider sentences between 2005 and 2007. Of those, judges granted nearly 1,000 reconsideration hearings and modified 509 sentences.

Judge Ann S. Harrington, chief administrative judge for Maryland's Sixth Judicial Circuit, which includes the Circuit Courts in Montgomery and Frederick counties, did not dispute sentencing commission data that shows a failure to report.

"If they're reporting that we sent in zero, well then, obviously we fell very short of the goal…," she said. "I don't think there's anything intentional in it." Harrington plans to remind and educate judges about the reporting requirement.

Truth in sentencing

Henderson was sentenced in 2000 to 60 years in prison with all but 12 years suspended. In 2004, the original judge reduced Henderson's prison time to 10 years. With nearly four years in diminution — or good behavior — credits, Henderson spent a little more than six years in prison. He was released April 2006, despite having been denied parole 10 months earlier by commissioners citing the violent nature of his crimes.

Facts like that have angered police and Harvey's friends.

"Our lawmakers need to acknowledge once and for all that allowing violent offenders this easy path toward early release does not turn them into law-abiding citizens. It endangers those of us who are," Udoff said.

Capt. John A. "Mitch" Cunningham and Capt. Patricia Walker, who head the county police department's records and major crimes divisions, have drafted "truth in sentencing" legislation that would require violent offenders denied parole to serve 85 percent of their sentences. They hope the bill will be introduced when the General Assembly convenes next month. Cunningham said the measure is slowly gaining support, and several of Harvey's friends have been helping with outreach.

As drafted, the measure takes aim at tightening diminution credits, which violent offenders can earn at nearly the same rate as nonviolent offenders. Current law allows nonviolent offenders to reduce prison time by up to 20 days a month while violent offenders can earn up to 15 days a month.

"The laws are applied too liberally," Cunningham said. "And as a result, violent offenders are released and permitted to commit more violent crimes."

At least 30 other states have truth in sentencing laws — and as a result have less crime, Cunningham said. He points to the 2006 Census data on violence which shows Maryland, one of the few states without a truth in sentencing requirement, near the top of the list.

He also points to data compiled by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments which shows that while Montgomery County and Virginia's Fairfax County are about the same size, have a similar per capita income and similar education levels, Montgomery has double the crime rate in most categories. Virginia, a state known for its permissive gun laws, passed a truth-in-sentencing law in 1993.

 Making a case

At a recent meeting in Gaithersburg, Sen. Nancy J. King (D-Dist. 39) of Montgomery Village announced her support for the police bill, which she will likely sponsor in the Senate. On Tuesday, the group met with state Del. Luiz R. S. Simmons, a District 17 delegate who sits on the House Judiciary Committee.

"If you look at the crime rate in our area and ... the challenges that our police departments have to try and keep things calm in our area, they've really got their hands full," King said. "And if there's something that we can do to help them out to do their job better, I think that this is probably the least that we can do."

Gaithersburg's mayor and council passed a resolution of support at the Nov. 24 meeting and promised to include the bill on the city's legislative agenda.

"The system does need to be changed," said Mayor Sidney A. Katz. If the parole board says criminals are "not ready for freedom, they're not ready for freedom. Another part of the system shouldn't kick in," he said.

The Gaithersburg Police Department and the Maryland Chiefs of Police Association are also backing the bill and county police are now seeking support from other state police agencies. Victims' rights advocates may climb on board, too.

Good behavior

King expects that some legislators will argue that the existing diminution system reduces violence in prisons, an argument she has heard before from corrections officials who point out the good behavior incentives can also be revoked.

"I think we have an uphill battle with some of the committees," King said, citing "a number of defense attorneys" serving in the state legislature.

Giving credit to inmates for positive behavior and program involvement "has been part of sentencing in America for generations and it does assist in improved behavior and staff safety in correctional institutions," said Arthur M. Wallenstein, director of the county's Department of Correction and Rehabilitation. "It is what it is, and we need some incentive, whatever it might be, to encourage safe and accountable behavior in institutions where many see no hope."

Eliminating or reducing diminution credits will extend sentences, resulting in prison crowding and the need to build more institutions, he said. The notion of restricting diminution begs the question, "How many more prisons do we want to build, and can we afford numerous additional prisons in Maryland?"

Cunningham believes it will be easiest to get reforms in the diminution policy for violent offenders, so has narrowed the proposed legislation to address only that population.

Getting changes in reconsideration, which has existed in Maryland for 50 years, will be harder, he said. There have been several attempts to limit the controversial process, mostly recently in 2003, but none have been successful.

In 2002, the legislature passed law requiring courts to report reconsiderations to the sentencing commission so that the kind and number of sentence reductions could be monitored, particularly for violent offenders.

The commission's 2007 annual report said the widespread failure to report reconsiderations statewide "prevents a complete analysis of their impact" as mandated.

"I like to think it's not being omitted on purpose, but I don't know that," said Soulé. Funding issues and staff changes delayed an automated reporting system that was planned for this year and is now expected to be operational in June, he said.

Henderson's murder trial is set for February. His public defender, Audrey Creighton, did not return calls for comment.