Slaying of Montgomery Resident Lindsay Harvey Will Be Key Argument When Maryland Senate Panel Reviews Sentencing Credits for Inmates

Last year's murder of a Montgomery County woman at the hands of a violent offender who served barely half his original sentence has inspired Maryland lawmakers to rethink the "good time" provisions that helped set him free.

On Wednesday, when a state Senate committee is set to weigh legislation that could lengthen prison terms, victims' advocates will raise the case of Shawn Henderson, who left prison in April 2006, about six years after slashing the throats of two people he robbed in Gaithersburg. Those people survived. In April 2008, he fatally shot Lindsay Harvey and left with $40.

"She should still be alive, without question," Montgomery County Police Capt. Mitch Cunningham said of the 25-year-old woman. "She is the reason that the system must fix itself."

Harvey's mother, Debra Harvey of Upstate New York, plans to testify at the hearing. She recently submitted a statement to legislators to tell them about her daughter: She was a military DNA analyst in Rockville. She worked POW/MIA cases dating back to World War I and gave "mad science" talks to elementary school classes in her spare time.

"She came to your state, your community," Debra Harvey wrote. "Does the Maryland General Assembly wish to attract, support and protect talented, productive citizens like Lindsay Harvey? Or do you wish to support violent criminals like Shawn Henderson?"

The legislation, prompted by work by Cunningham and another Montgomery police captain, addresses so-called good-time credits that inmates can accumulate for behaving, taking classes, working or learning a trade. While incarcerated, Henderson racked up such credits at a rate of more than 15 a month, with each credit shaving a day off his sentence. Henderson also benefited from a judge's reconsideration of his sentence, which reduced it by two years.

About 30 states, including Virginia, have adopted "truth in sentencing" policies to ensure that inmates serve something closer to their actual sentences. In Virginia and the District, felons can earn no more than five good-time credits a month and must serve at least 85 percent of their sentences, higher than the average in Maryland, according to local judges and prisons. Under the legislation in Annapolis, Maryland would adopt the same standards for violent offenders but also continue to allow early release through parole.

The bill could face resistance in the General Assembly, where similar measures have failed in past years, said one of its sponsors. "I think it will be a challenge," Del. Benjamin F. Kramer (D-Montgomery) said.

Opponents of the legislation say good-time credits are crucial to encouraging inmates to behave and learn skills needed when they are released. "The purpose of incarceration is not to incapacitate persons by removing them from society for as long as possible," the public defender's office said in a statement, calling the credits a powerful way to get inmates to "work toward rehabilitation."

But ensuring that violent inmates serve longer terms also would cost money and over time could eventually require a new $200 million prison, according to legislative researchers.

Supporters of the measure hope to overcome resistance by pointing to costs associated with repeat offenders and telling Lindsay Harvey's story.

Last April, Harvey went out with friends from work on a Saturday, pulling up to her Gaithersburg apartment complex about 1:30 a.m. She got out and headed for her apartment. Walking toward her, armed with a .40-caliber handgun, was Henderson, who had been out of prison for nearly two years. "Get away from me! No!" she yelled, according to charging documents.