May 3, 2010

ROBLES' BILL TO PROTECT POLICE
OFFICERS HEADS TO GOVERNOR'S OFFICE

Hartford, CT – State Rep. Hector Robles (D-Hartford) is pleased to announce that a bill he sponsored (HB 5339), that will require court officials to personally notify police officers who have been victims of assault prior to the imposition of a sentence or before a plea agreement of a defendant is reached in a court case, is heading to the governor's office to be signed into law.

Current law requires that any crime victim or the representative of a deceased victim may make or submit a statement to the court before the court sentences or accepts a plea agreement to a lesser charge. However, in cases involving a defendant charged with assaulting a police officer, this bill requires the court to ask, on the record, whether the officer was personally notified.

Under the bill, before the court imposes a sentence and before accepting a plea, the appropriate official must personally notify the police officer of the date, time, and place of the original sentencing hearing or any judicial proceeding concerning the acceptance of a plea.

"I am delighted to see the General Assembly recognizing the need to provide police officers with this consideration when we become victims of crimes," Robles stated.

Representative Robles is serving his first term representing Hartford's 6th Assembly District. He is a member of the Executive and Legislative Nominations, the Finance, Revenue and Bonding, General Law and the Public Safety and Security Committees.