(NewsNation) — Police have taken Jason Billingsley, a man wanted for the murder of Baltimore tech CEO Pava LaPere, into custody.
But many are wondering why Billingsley, who according to court records was sent to prison in 2015 for a first-degree sex offense, was free to potentially commit another violent crime in the first place. (Police also suspect that he may have been involved in a separate rape and arson that took place earlier this month.)
The Baltimore Banner reports Billingsley was sentenced to 30 years, but 16 years of that term were suspended. That meant he would serve 14 years, and the 16 years could then be imposed if Billingsley violated the terms of his release.
So why was he released last fall?
The answer lies in Maryland’s system of what are called diminution credits. Prisoners earn these credits either through good behavior or by completing educational or work tasks which can reduce their sentence.
“They frankly give people an opportunity to improve themselves while they’re there,” said Eric Kirk, a Maryland-based lawyer who often represents clients in criminal cases.
Most states have similar systems in place allowing prisoners to earn credits for good behavior to shave time off their sentence.
The Baltimore Banner reported Billingsley accrued enough of these credits to trigger a mandatory release. That meant he served nine years and three months of his 14-year sentence. People released under these conditions are supervised by the Department of Parole and Probation until the full completion of the sentence; violations could lead to a revocation of their release.
Not all prisoners are eligible for using these credits to earn an early release.
The current system does not allow offenders who committed a first- or second-degree rape or sex offense against a victim under the age of 16 or a repeat offender who committed a third-degree sex offense against a victim under the age of 16 to be eligible. A violation of lifetime sexual offender supervision will also render someone ineligible.
But both sex offenses and crimes of violence more generally are eligible for the credits, meaning that Billingsley’s conduct behind bars allowed him to erase years off of his sentence and return to the world outside.
One crime that doesn’t render a prisoner ineligible for these credits is murder. Kirk pointed out there have been efforts in the past to make convicted murderers ineligible, but those efforts were unsuccessful. A bill introduced in the state legislature in 2018 was opposed by the ACLU of Maryland and did not make it out of committee.
