Virginia Senate Bill 116 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: Engrossed on January 29 2020 - 50% progression, died in committee
Action: 2020-03-03 - Left in Courts of Justice
Pending: House Courts of Justice Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Prefiled) [HTML]

Death penalty; severe mental illness. Provides that a defendant in a capital case who had a severe mental illness, as defined in the bill, at the time of the offense is not eligible for the death penalty. The bill establishes procedures for determining whether a defendant had a severe mental illness at the time of the offense and provides for the appointment of expert evaluators. The bill provides that when the defendant's severe mental illness is at issue, a determination will be made by the jury or by the judge in a bench trial as part of the sentencing proceeding, and the defendant bears the burden of proving his severe mental illness by a preponderance of the evidence. The bill also provides that in the event the defendant fails to provide notice that he will offer testimony by an expert witness at such sentencing proceeding, the court may either allow the Commonwealth a continuance or, where the defendant is unable to show good cause for untimely notice, bar the defendant from presenting such evidence.

Death penalty; severe mental illness.

Sen. Barbara Favola [D]

Sen. Jennifer Boysko [D]

2020-01-30 - Senate - Senate: Read third time and passed Senate (32-Y 7-N) (Y: 32 N: 7 NV: 1 Abs: 0) [PASS]
2020-01-28 - Senate - Senate: Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) (Y: 40 N: 0 NV: 0 Abs: 0) [PASS]
2020-01-27 - Senate - Senate: Reported from Judiciary (9-Y 4-N) (Y: 9 N: 4 NV: 0 Abs: 0) [PASS]

Date	Chamber	Action
2020-03-03	House	Left in Courts of Justice
2020-02-03	House	Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
2020-02-03	House	Read first time
2020-02-03	House	Placed on Calendar
2020-01-30	Senate	Read third time and passed Senate (32-Y 7-N)
2020-01-29	Senate	Read second time and engrossed
2020-01-28	Senate	Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
2020-01-27	Senate	Reported from Judiciary (9-Y 4-N)
2020-01-08	Senate	Moved from Courts of Justice to Judiciary due to a change of the committee name
2019-12-14	Senate	Referred to Committee on the Judiciary
2019-12-14	Senate	Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20101740D

Chapter	Article	Section	Citation Type	Statute Text
19	2	264.3:1.3	(n/a)	See Bill Text
19	2	264.3:1.4	(n/a)	See Bill Text
19	2	264.3:1.5	(n/a)	See Bill Text
19	2	264.3:3	(n/a)	See Bill Text
19	2	264.4	(n/a)	See Bill Text

Type	Source
Summary	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB116
Text	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB116+hil
Roll Call	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+vot+S03V0079+SB0116
Roll Call	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+vot+SV0210SB0116+SB0116
Roll Call	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+vot+SV0238SB0116+SB0116