RÉSUMÉ DIGEST
ACT 542 (HB 253) 2018 Regular Session Connick
Existing law (habitual offender law) provides that any person who, after having been
convicted of a felony, thereafter commits any subsequent felony within La., upon conviction
shall be subject to certain enhanced penalties.
Prior law (prior to Act Nos. 257 and 282 of the 2017 R.S.) provided that for purposes of the
habitual offender law, the current offense cannot be counted as a second, third, fourth, or
higher offense if more than 10 years have elapsed between the date of the commission of the
current offense or offenses and the expiration of the maximum sentence or sentences of the
previous conviction or convictions. Further provided that in computing the intervals of time,
any period of parole, probation, or incarceration by a person in a penal institution, within or
without the state, cannot be included in the computation of any of the 10-year periods
between the expiration of the maximum sentence or sentences and the next succeeding
offense or offenses.
Existing law (as amended by Act Nos. 257 and 282 of the 2017 R.S.) retains prior law if the
prior offense was a crime of violence or sex offense. If the prior offense was not a crime of
violence or a sex offense, existing law (as amended by Act Nos. 257 and 282 of the 2017
R.S.) provides that the current offense cannot be counted as a second, third, fourth, or
subsequent offense if more than five years have elapsed between the date of the commission
of the current offense or offenses and the expiration of the maximum sentence or sentences
of the previous conviction or convictions.
New law provides the court shall apply to a defendant the provisions of law that were in
effect on the date that the defendant's instant offense was committed, except the provisions
of existing law as amended by Act Nos. 257 and 282 of the 2017 R.S. that provide for the
amount of time that must elapse between the current and prior offense for the habitual
offender law to apply, shall apply to any bill of information filed on or after Nov. 1, 2017,
accusing the person of a previous conviction.
Effective August 1, 2018.
(Adds R.S. 15:529.1(K))