Bill Text: HI HCR84 | 2015 | Regular Session | Introduced

Hawaii House Concurrent Resolution 84 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Working Group; Murder in the First Degree

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-03-24 - The committee(s) on JUD recommend(s) that the measure be deferred. [HCR84 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2015-HCR84-Introduced.html

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	84
TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2015
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

establishing a working group to study, review, and revise the definition of murder in the first degree.

WHEREAS, under existing law in Hawaii, the killing of a person in an especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel manner, manifesting exceptional depravity, does not necessarily constitute murder in the first degree; and

WHEREAS, although a conviction for murder in the second degree that involved heinous, atrocious, or cruel conduct may warrant enhanced sentencing, the decision to pursue enhanced sentencing lies within the discretion of the prosecutor or the court and requires an entirely separate post-conviction hearing; and

WHEREAS, several other states automatically classify killing another person under these types of circumstances as murder in the first degree; and

WHEREAS, such a classification is intended to punish the perpetrator and to deter others from committing these types of horrible crimes; and

WHEREAS, the matter of whether Hawaii should also establish the killing of a person in an especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel manner, manifesting exceptional depravity, as murder in the first degree deserves further consideration and study; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-eighth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2015, the Senate concurring, that there is established a working group to study, review, and revise the definition of murder in the first degree; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the members of the working group shall consist of:

(1) Two members of the House of Representatives, to be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives;

(2) Two members of the Senate, to be appointed by the President of the Senate;

(3) A representative of the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu;

(4) A representative of the Department of the Attorney General;

(5) Two victim advocates, to be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives; and

(6) Two victim advocates, to be appointed by the President of the Senate; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that no member of the working group shall be made subject to Chapter 84, Hawaii Revised Statutes, solely because of that member's participation as a member of the working group; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that prior to the Regular Session of 2016, the working group shall hold no fewer than two meetings, to be convened and organized by the four members of the working group who are also members of the House of Representatives and members of the Senate; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the working group shall submit its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature, the chairperson of the House of Representatives Committee on Judiciary, and the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Labor no later than 20 days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2016; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the working group shall cease to exist on January 1, 2016; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Attorney General, Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu, and Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu.