Bill
HB 4507
Allows LWOP consideration for 19-20-year-olds in select deadly drug/device crimes after an individualized hearing, via a new sentencing framework.
Status and basic info
- Bill: HB 4507 — amends section 17764 of the Public Health Code (MCL 333.17764).
- Sponsor: Rep. Sarah Lightner. Filed March 12, 2025; introduced May 21, 2025; committee work in April–June 2025; placed on third reading July 24, 2025.
- Tie-bar: Cannot take effect unless HB 4506 is enacted. HB 4506 creates the new sentencing/resentencing procedure (proposed MCL 769.25b); HB 4508 makes parallel Penal Code changes.
Purpose / intent
- To create a statutory procedure by which defendants who were 19 or 20 years old at the time of a qualifying offense can be considered for a sentence of life without parole (LWOP), following an individualized judicial process similar to existing protections for those under 18.
Key substantive provisions
- Amends MCL 333.17764 to preserve the existing prohibitions and penalties in the Public Health Code for adulterating, misbranding, or otherwise contaminating drugs/devices, while modifying the LWOP sentencing reference to allow application of the new judicial process (sections 25, 25a, and newly proposed 25b of Chapter IX of the Code of Criminal Procedure).
- Under the companion procedural framework (HB 4506 / proposed MCL 769.25b), prosecutors may file a motion seeking LWOP for defendants who were 19 or 20 at the time of the offense. Important deadlines and procedures:
- Motion must be filed no later than 42 days after conviction.
- For defendants convicted before the bill’s effective date, prosecutors may move for resentencing within 360 days after that date; any resentenced defendant receives credit for time served.
- Defendant must file a response within 14 days of notice.
- Court must hold a hearing, consider Miller v. Alabama (and related youth-specific sentencing factors), the defendant’s record while incarcerated, and any other relevant criteria.
- Victims of the original offense must be given the opportunity to appear and give an oral impact statement under the William Van Regenmorter Crime Victim’s Rights Act.
- Sentencing outcomes:
- The sentencing judge (or successor) must decide between imposing LWOP or a term-of-years sentence with a minimum between 35 and 50 years and a maximum of not less than 80 years. Any term-of-years sentence must run consecutively to sentences for offenses arising from the same transaction.
- If the prosecutor does not timely file a motion for LWOP, the court must impose the required term-of-years range instead.
- HB 4507 specifically modifies the Public Health Code §§ 17764(7) LWOP language to incorporate the procedures of sections 25/25a/25b (i.e., the new individualized consideration for 19- and 20‑year‑olds).
Offenses affected
- The bill’s procedural change applies to qualifying deadly offenses referenced in the Public Health Code provision and corresponding Penal Code provisions, including (among others):
- Adulterating/misbranding drugs/devices that, with intent to kill or to cause serious impairment of a body function of two or more people, results in death (public-health-code provision targeted by HB 4507).
- Acts that willfully mingle poison into food/drink/water causing death.
- First-degree murder, premeditated terrorism causing death, explosives/bombs/harmful-device offenses, and any other offense where parole eligibility is expressly denied under state law (HB 4508 addresses the Penal Code cross‑references).
- Note: HB 4507 mainly updates statutory cross‑references so the Public Health Code offenses are subject to the new youth‑focused LWOP procedure created in HB 4506.
Background / legal context
- The bills respond to Eighth Amendment and state-law developments (Miller v. Alabama, Montgomery v. Louisiana) and Michigan case law (People v. Parks extending protections to 18‑year‑olds). HB 4506–4508 extend an individualized sentencing framework to 19‑ and 20‑year‑olds for the limited set of LWOP-eligible crimes.
Potential impact
- Creates a path for prosecutors to seek LWOP for 19–20-year-old offenders of specified deadly drug/device and related offenses, but requires individualized hearings where youth-related mitigating factors must be considered.
- Authorizes resentencing motions for eligible defendants previously convicted, subject to filing deadlines.
- Changes are contingent on enactment of HB 4506; absent HB 4506, HB 4507 would not take effect.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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