COLOMBIA – A small group of South Carolina lawmakers decided on Wednesday to postpone voting on a proposal to create a new law specifically to deal with people who steal packages from balconies, even after the top defender admitted that a minimum penalty five years in prison was a little harsh.
Instead, state deputy Cezar McKnight suggested a 15-year probation period for anyone convicted of violating his proposed “Porch Pirate Defense Act.”
“I think this is a bit draconian,” said McKnight of his first thought about a minimum five-year prison sentence.
Theft is already a crime, but passing the new law and making it a serious crime would emphasize how stealing from a balcony violates the sanctity that people should feel in their homes, said McKnight, a Democrat from Kingstree.
“I don’t want someone who spent their hard-earned money buying something and then having an unscrupulous person come over and just take it off their porch,” said McKnight. “This house is sacred.”
The increase in people buying things online and getting them at home has meant an increase in the number of people taking the time to pick up packages that are not behind closed doors.
Some other states have already specifically banned theft of porch packages with their own punishments. In Texas, it is a crime with a maximum of 10 years in prison if someone steals from more than 30 addresses. Oklahoma, Michigan and California have laws that make the first offense a misdemeanor.
Representative Seth Rose said he understood the reasoning behind the bill and appreciated McKnight’s removal from the five-year minimum sentence. But it still does not allow anyone accused of stealing balconies to enter intervention programs or drug courts that can cause a charge to be deleted from your record.
The Columbia Democrat has asked to suspend debate over McKnight’s bill so that there is more discussion.
“When we pass laws here, there will be cases beyond our imagination,” said Rose.
No sheriff or police officer testified about the project at the House subcommittee hearing on Wednesday.
Calhoun County Sheriff Thomas Summers told the Associated Press that he had not studied the bill enough to decide whether it was necessary.
Package theft is less of an issue in its rural county of 15,000, where roads are long and neighbors look out for each other. But Summers said he suspected that the bill symbolizes a greater problem of people not respecting other people’s property.
“I am totally against stealing, period. We have a problem with stealing people and sometimes you have to make it clear that stealing is wrong, “said Summers.
———
Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP.