Bill Text: MS SB2451 | 2016 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Offense of threatening a law enforcement officer; create.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2016-02-23 - Died In Committee [SB2451 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2016-SB2451-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2016 Regular Session
To: Judiciary, Division B
By: Senator(s) Harkins
Senate Bill 2451
AN ACT TO CREATE THE OFFENSE OF THREATENING A PUBLIC OFFICIAL OR LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER; TO ENACT DEFINITIONS; TO SPECIFY PUNISHMENT THEREFOR; TO PROVIDE FOR JURISDICTION AND VENUE OF PROSECUTIONS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. (1) A person commits the offense of threatening a public servant when the person knowingly and willfully delivers or conveys, directly or indirectly, to a public servant, by any means, a communication:
(a) Containing a threat that places the public servant or a member of the public servant's immediate family under reasonable apprehension of immediate or future bodily harm, sexual assault, confinement or restraint; or
(b) Containing a threat that places the public servant or a member of the public servant's immediate family in a reasonable apprehension that damage will occur to property in the custody, care, or control of the public servant or the public servant's immediate family.
(2) The threat is conveyed because of the performance or nonperformance of a governmental function or other official duty because of the hostility of the person making the threat toward the status or position of the public servant, or because of any other factor related to the official's public existence.
(3) For the purposes of this section:
(a) "Public servant" means a person elected to office in accordance with a statute or who is appointed to an office which is established, and the qualifications and duties of which are prescribed, by statute or the Mississippi Constitution of 1890, to discharge a public duty for the state or any of its political subdivisions, or who has been elected, appointed or designated to become a public servant although not yet occupying that position, or who has filed the required documents for nomination or election to the office. The term also includes a sworn law enforcement officer as defined in Section 45-6-3.
(b) "Immediate family" means a public servant's spouse, child or children or persons residing in the public servant's domicile.
(c) "Threat" means any menace, however communicated, to: (i) cause bodily injury to the person threatened or another or commit any other criminal offense; (ii) cause damage to property or cause anyone to part with property; (iii) accuse anyone of a criminal offense; (iv) expose a secret or an asserted fact, whether true or false, tending to subject anyone to hatred, contempt or ridicule; (v) impair the credit or business repute of any person; or (vi) take or withhold action as a public servant or
(d) "Governmental function" means any activity that a public servant is legally authorized to undertake on behalf of the state or any of its political subdivisions.
(e) "Harm" means loss, disadvantage or injury, or anything so regarded by the person affected.
(4) For purposes of a threat to a sworn law enforcement officer, the threat must contain specific facts indicative of a unique threat to the person, immediate family, or property of the officer and not a generalized threat of harm.
(5) A person convicted under this section is guilty of a felony punishable by a fine not to exceed Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00), commitment to the custody of the Department of Corrections for a period of not less than three (3) nor more than seven (7) years, or both.
(6) For the purposes of venue under the provisions of this section, a violation of this section is considered to have been committed and may be prosecuted:
(a) In any county in which any act was performed in furtherance of a violation of this section, including the home county of the public servant threatened or whose immediate family was threatened; and
(b) In any county from which, to which or through which any means of communicating the threat to the public servant or public servant's immediate family was accomplished.
(7) For purposes of bringing a criminal action under this section, a person making a threat against a public servant when the communication originates in one jurisdiction and is communicated to another jurisdiction is deemed to have personally made the threat in each jurisdiction. Jurisdiction is deemed to be proper in each jurisdiction where any element of the offense occurred and in which any act in execution or furtherance of the scheme occurred.
(8) Prosecution under this section does not preempt prosecution under any other criminal statute.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2016.
