Designates felony hit-and-run driving as a crime of violence (OR INCREASE GF EX See Note)

This bill enacts three new statutory provisions that designate felony hit-and-run driving as a crime of violence in Louisiana. Specifically, it adds hit-and-run driving punishable under R.S. 14:100(C)(2) or (3) to the enumerated list of crimes of violence in R.S. 14:2(B)(63). The legislation also adds the same offense to Code of Criminal Procedure Article 890.1(D)(35), which lists crimes of violence for which courts are prohibited from waiving mandatory minimum sentences, and to C.Cr.P. Article 890.3(C)(28), which requires courts to designate certain crimes of violence in the court minutes as such designations.

The practical effect of this legislation is that individuals convicted of felony hit-and-run driving under the specified statutes will face substantially harsher criminal consequences. Because the offense becomes classified as a crime of violence, sentencing judges lose the discretion they would otherwise possess to waive mandatory minimum sentences, meaning eligible defendants cannot negotiate reduced sentences as a condition of plea agreements. Additionally, courts are now required to formally enter findings in the court minutes designating the conviction as a crime of violence, which creates an additional formal record of the violent crime classification. These changes will affect defendants, their families, and prosecutors negotiating criminal cases involving hit-and-run incidents that result in injuries or fatalities meeting the statutory thresholds.

This legislation operates within Louisiana's established framework for designating crimes of violence, which is defined in R.S. 14:2(B) as offenses involving the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against persons or property, or involving dangerous weapons. The statutory amendment adds to an existing enumerated list that already includes numerous violent offenses. The bill's procedural provisions integrate with the Code of Criminal Procedure's existing mandatory sentencing structures, particularly the waiver prohibitions in Article 890.1 and the mandatory designation requirements in Article 890.3. The legislation is formally styled as "The Christina Larsen Act," honoring an apparent victim of such an offense. Courts will apply these provisions prospectively to sentencing determinations for defendants convicted of hit-and-run driving under R.S. 14:100(C)(2) or (3).