Bill Text: MS HB1406 | 2016 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Capital murder; revise definition to include emergency medical technician, first responders and utility workers.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 12-0)
Status: (Failed) 2016-03-22 - Died In Committee [HB1406 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2016-HB1406-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2016 Regular Session
To: Judiciary B
By: Representatives Monsour, Bennett, Boyd, Chism, Criswell, Currie, McLeod, Oliver, Rushing
House Bill 1406
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 97-3-21, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE THE DEATH PENALTY FOR ANY PERSON CONVICTED OF CAPITAL MURDER OF CERTAIN PERSONS; TO AMEND SECTION 97-3-19, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE CERTAIN DEFINITIONS RELATED TO CAPITAL MURDER; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 97-3-21, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-3-21. (1) Every person who shall be convicted of first-degree murder shall be sentenced by the court to imprisonment for life in the custody of the Department of Corrections.
(2) Every person who shall be convicted of second-degree murder shall be imprisoned for life in the custody of the Department of Corrections if the punishment is so fixed by the jury in its verdict after a separate sentencing proceeding. If the jury fails to agree on fixing the penalty at imprisonment for life, the court shall fix the penalty at not less than twenty (20) nor more than forty (40) years in the custody of the Department of Corrections.
(3) (a) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (b) of this subsection, every person who shall be convicted of capital murder shall be sentenced (a) to death; (b) to imprisonment for life in the State Penitentiary without parole; or (c) to imprisonment for life in the State Penitentiary with eligibility for parole as provided in Section 47-7-3(1)(f).
(b) Every person who shall be convicted of capital murder as provided in Section 97-3-19(2)(a) or 97-3-19(2)(h) shall be sentenced to death.
SECTION 2. Section 97-3-19, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-3-19. (1) The killing of a human being without the authority of law by any means or in any manner shall be murder in the following cases:
(a) When done with deliberate design to effect the death of the person killed, or of any human being, shall be first-degree murder;
(b) When done in the commission of an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved heart, regardless of human life, although without any premeditated design to effect the death of any particular individual, shall be second-degree murder;
(c) When done without any design to effect death by any person engaged in the commission of any felony other than rape, kidnapping, burglary, arson, robbery, sexual battery, unnatural intercourse with any child under the age of twelve (12), or nonconsensual unnatural intercourse with mankind, or felonious abuse and/or battery of a child in violation of subsection (2) of Section 97-5-39, or in any attempt to commit such felonies, shall be first-degree murder;
(d) When done with deliberate design to effect the death of an unborn child, shall be first-degree murder.
(2) The killing of a human being without the authority of law by any means or in any manner shall be capital murder in the following cases:
(a) Murder which is
perpetrated by killing an emergency medical technician, a first responder,
a peace officer or fireman while such officer or fireman is acting in his
official capacity or by reason of an act performed in his official capacity,
and with knowledge that the victim was a peace officer or fireman. For
purposes of this paragraph, the term "peace officer" means any state
or federal law enforcement officer, including, but not limited to, a federal
park ranger, the sheriff of or police officer of a city or town, a conservation
officer, a parole officer, a judge, senior status judge, special judge,
district attorney, legal assistant to a district attorney, county prosecuting
attorney or any other court official, an agent of the Alcoholic Beverage
Control Division of the Department of Revenue, an agent of the Bureau of
Narcotics, personnel of the Mississippi Highway Patrol, and the employees of
the Department of Corrections who are designated as peace officers by the
Commissioner of Corrections pursuant to Section 47-5-54, * * * the superintendent and his deputies,
guards, officers and other employees of the Mississippi State Penitentiary * * *. For purposes of this paragraph, the term
"emergency medical technician" means a person licensed pursuant to
Section 41-59-1 et seq., Mississippi Code of 1972, to provide emergency medical
services as an emergency medical technician-ambulance, emergency medical
technician-intermediate, emergency medical technician-paramedic, or emergency
medical technician-nurse-paramedic. For purposes of this paragraph, the term
"first responders" means state and local law enforcement personnel,
fire department personnel, emergency medical personnel, emergency management
personnel and public works personnel who may be deployed to bioterrorism
attacks, terrorist attacks, catastrophic or natural disasters and emergencies;
(b) Murder which is perpetrated by a person who is under sentence of life imprisonment;
(c) Murder which is perpetrated by use or detonation of a bomb or explosive device;
(d) Murder which is perpetrated by any person who has been offered or has received anything of value for committing the murder, and all parties to such a murder, are guilty as principals;
(e) When done with or without any design to effect death, by any person engaged in the commission of the crime of rape, burglary, kidnapping, arson, robbery, sexual battery, unnatural intercourse with any child under the age of twelve (12), or nonconsensual unnatural intercourse with mankind, or in any attempt to commit such felonies;
(f) When done with or without any design to effect death, by any person engaged in the commission of the crime of felonious abuse and/or battery of a child in violation of subsection (2) of Section 97-5-39, or in any attempt to commit such felony;
(g) Murder which is perpetrated on educational property as defined in Section 97-37-17;
(h) Murder which is perpetrated by the killing of any elected official of a county, municipal, state or federal government with knowledge that the victim was such public official;
(i) Murder of three
(3) or more persons who are killed incident to one (1) act, scheme, course of
conduct or criminal episode * * *;and
(j) Murder of more than three (3) persons within a three-year period.
(3) An indictment for murder or capital murder shall serve as notice to the defendant that the indictment may include any and all lesser included offenses thereof, including, but not limited to, manslaughter.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2016.
