By Cole Grant/UM Legislative News Service

HELENA - The Senate Judiciary Committee tabled a bill Thursday that would put assault of a former peace officer on par with assault of a current peace officer.

Joe Cohenour, husband of Senate Bill 265’s sponsor, Sen. Jill Cohenour, D-East Helena, said he’d been threatened while he was a police officer.

“One individual I had arrested seven different times for seven different crimes, and put him into jail, which subsequently put him into prison, and he just told me one day you know, one day you’re going to retire, you’re not going to be a cop anymore. And I’ll see you then,” he said.

SK Rossi with the Montana ACLU says the bill is unnecessary, because the laws are already in place.

“To be perfectly honest, working for the ACLU I get threatened all the time. And I don’t find it  appropriate to sit out here and ask to be, have a special offer on assault that would be illegal regardless of who I worked for,” Rossi said.

The bill was tabled unanimously.

Cole Grant is a reporter with the UM Legislative News Service, a partnership of the University of Montana School of Journalism, the Montana Broadcasters Association and the Greater Montana Foundation.

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