Senate Bill 2433

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 97-41-11, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE THE OFFENSE OF COCKFIGHTING AND THE PUNISHMENT THEREFOR; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 97-41-11, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

97-41-11. (1) Any person who shall keep or use, or in any way be connected with or interested in the management of, or shall receive money for the admission of any person to, any place kept or used for the purpose of fighting any bear * * *~~, cock~~ or other creature, except a dog or rooster, or of tormenting or torturing the same, and every person who shall encourage, aid, or assist therein, or who shall permit or suffer any place to be so kept or used, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. It shall be the duty of any policeman or other officer of the law, county or municipal, to enter into any such place kept for such purpose, and to arrest each and every person concerned or participating therein.

(2) (a) It shall be unlawful for any person to:

(i) Organize or conduct any commercial or private cockfight wherein there is a display of combat or fighting among one or more domestic or feral chickens and in which it is intended or reasonably foreseeable that the chickens would be injured, maimed, mutilated, or killed; or

(ii) Possess, train, purchase, or sell any chicken with the intent that the chicken shall be engaged in an unlawful commercial or private cockfight as prohibited in this subsection (2).

(b) (i) Whoever violates the provisions of this subsection (2), on conviction of a first offense, shall be fined not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or imprisoned for not more than six (6) months, or both.

(ii) Upon conviction of a second or subsequent offense, the offender shall be fined not less than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) nor more than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), or imprisoned in the custody of the Department of Corrections for a term of not less than one (1) nor more than three (3) years, or both.

(3) (a) It shall be unlawful for any person to attend a cockfight, to wager on a cockfight, or to pay admission at any location to view or wager on a cockfight.

(b) Whoever violates the provisions of this subsection (3) shall be fined not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or imprisoned for not more than six (6) months, or both.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2019.