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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | January 23, 2013 12:51 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative John P. Sabatina, Jr. |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Home invasion |
| In the near future, I plan to introduce legislation that amends Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes to establish home invasion as an offense. You may have read recent media reports concerning a deadly home invasion in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, that occurred earlier this month. Investigators are searching for two men who they believe were involved in the murder of Joseph Canazaro. Although Canazaro’s fiancée and son were able to escape serious physical injury, these individuals may never be able to forget the horrendous trauma they endured that fateful day. Whether Canazaro was targeted in this crime remains unknown. Whatever the case, it remains clear that home invasions can be dangerous and detrimental to a victim present during the invasion and result in lifelong psychological problems, in addition to serious or fatal injuries. As members of this General Assembly, we must ensure that residents of this Commonwealth are provided adequate protection and those individuals that defy the enacted laws to prevent these atrocious acts are penalized. Based on the Delaware’s House Bill 277, which was signed into law on June 1, 2012, my legislation would provide that an individual may be convicted of a home invasion offense if he or she knowingly enters, attempts to enter, or remains unlawfully in a dwelling with intent to commit a crime of violence. In addition, the offender must know or reasonably believe that another person is present in the dwelling, commit or attempt to commit a specified felony, and is armed with explosives or a deadly weapon or causes physical injury to another individual. Under my proposal, home invasions would be classified as a first-degree felony with a mandatory minimum sentence of five years at a maximum-security facility. Moreover, an offender convicted of a second or subsequent home invasion offense or an offense that occurred in a dwelling with a person 62 years of age or older present would be subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years at a maximum-security facility. Show your support for victims and their families by co-sponsoring this important legislation. |
Introduced as HB1296