CUMBERLAND — While two local legislators say they support the idea of a Maryland version of Caylee’s Law, Delegate Wendell Beitzel takes a more cautious approach.
“A lot of times, people tend to have knee-jerk reactions. Before I would commit to supporting such a law ... I’d like to look at the full ramifications,” Beitzel said, adding that “unintended consequences” sometimes followed passage of laws based on emotions.
“The fact is there was a trial by jury,” Beitzel said. “Even though we may not like the outcome, I believe we have the best judicial system in the world, although sometimes mistakes are made.”
Sen. George Edwards and Delegate Kevin Kelly said they are listening to constituents and their own common sense and would likely support a version of Caylee’s Law.
The laws are designed to allow prosecutors to bring felony charges against parents who do not quickly report missing children, with most of the proposals requiring law enforcement notification by 24 or 48 hours after a child goes missing, or a shorter time frame to report the death of a child.
The proposed laws developed after Casey Anthony’s acquittal in Florida last week of charges that she murdered her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee. Anthony did not report her daughter missing to police, who were finally alerted to the missing child by Casey Anthony’s mother, 30 days after the child was last seen. Anthony was convicted of four misdemeanor counts of lying to investigators. Kelly plans to introduce his own bill to enact a state version of Caylee’s Law. He’s asked the Bill Drafting Division of the Department of Legislative Services to draft a bill he can introduce as a sponsor at the next regular Maryland General Assembly session.
“If a child disappears for more than 24 hours, law enforcement should be notified,” said Kelly. “It’s common sense, you need to do an Amber Alert.”
Kelly said he would consider a different time frame of up to 48 hours to require notification, but not beyond that. An age range might be appropriate as well, he said, perhaps limiting the law to children under 14 years old.
Edwards said he couldn’t commit to supporting legislation he hasn’t seen, but he favors the general idea of requiring official notification of a missing child within a short time frame. Edwards said that so far, he’d only heard about Senate Minority leader Nancy Jacobs’ (R-Cecil/Harford), plans to introduce a bill.
“I think it makes sense if a parent is aware (of a missing or deceased child) ... out of respect, if nothing else,” Edwards said. “The idea would be to put something on the books and hopefully make people aware of the need to report the situation.”
Edwards said it isn’t unusual for Maryland legislators to consider and pass legislation arising out of incidents reported on the national stage and garnering support in other states or in Maryland. He cited Alexis’ Law as one of those legislative actions. That law made it a crime for a person charged with a sex crime against a child to violate a condition of pretrial release or probation. It also allowed any judge to hear a motion for a protective order in such a case.
Contact Matthew Bieniek at mbieniek@times-news.com.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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