“(There needs to be) some type of law to help prevent this from happening again,” Oneida County District Attorney Scott McNamara said Friday.
Recently, state Sen. David Valesky, D-Oneida, co-sponsored legislation that would strengthen penalties for harming or killing a child, as well as obstructing law enforcement in investigations of those cases.
The Protect Our Children Act would create the new crime of aggravated murder of a child with a sentence of life without parole.
In addition, the bill would expand an existing law of aggravated abuse of a child, making it a crime to recklessly cause physical injury to a child younger than 14.
“This legislation gives law enforcement the tools they need to appropriately charge and prosecute anyone who abuses or kills a child,” Valesky said in a news release.