MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2013 Regular Session
To: Judiciary B
By: Representative DeBar (By Request)
AN ACT TO CREATE NEW SECTION 41-3-9, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT WHERE A CEMETERY OR GRAVEYARD HAS BEEN USED BY THE PUBLIC FOR 20 YEARS OR MORE AND NO PART OF THE CEMETERY OR GRAVEYARD IS ADJACENT TO ANY PUBLIC ROAD OR HIGHWAY, ANY PERSON WHO HAS RELATIVES BURIED IN THE CEMETERY OR GRAVEYARD SHALL HAVE THE RIGHT TO ACQUIRE A CONVENIENT RIGHT-OF-WAY OVER THE LANDS LYING BETWEEN THE CEMETERY OR GRAVEYARD AND THE NEAREST PUBLIC ROAD OR HIGHWAY; TO CREATE NEW SECTION 41-43-11, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT OWNERS AND LESSEES OF PRIVATE LAND ON WHICH A CEMETERY, GRAVES OR BURIAL SITES ARE LOCATED SHALL HAVE A DUTY TO ALLOW REASONABLE ACCESS TO THE CEMETERY, GRAVES OR BURIAL SITES BY CERTAIN PERSONS WHO HAVE GIVEN REASONABLE NOTICE TO THE OWNER OR LESSEES; TO PROVIDE THAT ANY PERSON ENTERING ONTO PRIVATE LAND AS AUTHORIZED BY THIS SECTION SHALL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR CONDUCTING HIMSELF IN A MANNER THAT DOES NOT DAMAGE THE PRIVATE LAND, CEMETERY, GRAVESITE OR BURIAL SITE, AND SHALL BE LIABLE TO THE OWNER OR LESSEE OF THE PROPERTY FOR ANY DAMAGE CAUSED AS THE RESULT OF HIS ACCESS; TO PROVIDE IMMUNITY FROM LIABILITY TO THE LANDOWNER AND LESSEE IN ANY CIVIL ACTION ARISING OUT OF THE ACCESS GRANTED BY THIS SECTION; TO AMEND SECTIONS 97-29-19, 97-29-23 AND 97-29-25, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO INCREASE THE PENALTIES FOR INJURING, DAMAGING OR DESECRATING PROPERTY OR ITEMS AT CEMETERIES OR BURIED HUMAN BODIES; TO AMEND SECTION 97-17-39, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM TO THE PRECEDING PROVISIONS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. The following shall be codified as Section 41-3-9, Mississippi Code of 1972:
41-43-9. Where a cemetery or graveyard has been used by the public as a place for burying the dead for twenty (20) years or more and no part of the cemetery or graveyard is adjacent or contiguous to any public road or highway, any person or persons who have relatives or relations buried in the cemetery or graveyard shall have the right to acquire and may acquire a convenient right-of-way, not exceeding in width fifteen (15) feet, over the lands intervening and lying between the cemetery or graveyard or body of land on which the same is situated and the public road or highway nearest or most convenient thereto.
SECTION 2. The following shall be codified as Section 41-43-11, Mississippi Code of 1972:
41-43-11. (1) Owners and lessees of private land on which a cemetery, graves, or burial sites are located shall have a duty to allow ingress and egress to the cemetery, graves or burial sites by (a) family members, friends, or descendants of deceased persons buried there; (b) any cemetery plot owner; and (c) any person engaged in genealogical, historical or cultural research, who has given reasonable notice to the owner of record or to the lessees, or both.
(2) (a) The right of ingress and egress granted by this section shall be reasonable and limited to the purposes of visiting graves or burial sites, maintaining the gravesite or burial site or cemetery, or conducting genealogical, historical, or cultural research, or, in the case of a plot owner, burying a deceased person in the plot.
(b) The owner or lessee of the land has the right to designate the frequency, hours, and duration of the access and the access route, if no traditional access route is obviously visible from a view of the property, provided that the designation is reasonable for the purposes set out above.
(3) (a) Any person entering onto private land as provided in this section shall be responsible for conducting himself or herself in a manner that does not damage the private land, cemetery, gravesite or burial site, and shall be liable to the owner or lessee of the property for any damage caused as the result of his or her access.
(b) The landowner and lessee, in the absence of gross negligence or willful misconduct, shall be immune from liability in any civil suit, action or cause of action arising out of the access granted by this section.
SECTION 3. Section 97-29-19, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-29-19. Every person who * * * removes the dead body of any human
being from the grave or other place of interment for the purpose of selling the
same or for mere wantonness, or who * * * wantonly digs into or opens
the grave or other place of interment where the remains of any dead human body
is interred, or wantonly disturbs the remains of any dead human body
therein interred, * * *is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction * * *, shall be punished by
imprisonment in the Penitentiary * * * for not less than two (2) years nor more
than twenty (20) years * * *, or * * * by a fine of not more than * * *, Five
Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), or both, in the discretion of the court.
SECTION 4. Section 97-29-23, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-29-23. Every person who * * * opens a grave or other place of
interment with intent to move the dead body of any human being for the purpose
of selling the same, or for the purpose of dissection, or to steal the coffin
or any part thereof, or the vestments or other articles interred with the dead
body, or any of them, * * *
is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, shall be punished by
imprisonment in the Penitentiary * * * for not less
than two (2) years nor more than twenty (20) years * * *,
or by a fine of not more than * * * Five
Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), or both, in the discretion of the court.
SECTION 5. Section 97-29-25, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-29-25. (1) (a) Every
person, by any means whatever, who * * * knowingly and willfully or maliciously
digs up, except as otherwise provided by law, obliterates, or in
any way desecrates any cemetery where human dead are interred, or causes
through word, deed or action the same to happen, * * * or
desecrates, injures, defaces, removes or destroys any tomb, burial
vault, urn, container of human remains, burial mound, earthen or shell
monument containing human skeletal remains or associated burial artifacts, memorial,
monument, vase, foundation, base, structure or other similar items in a
cemetery, is guilty of a felony and, upon
conviction, * * * shall be punished by
imprisonment in the Penitentiary for not less than two (2) years nor more than
twenty (20) years, or by a fine of not more than Five Thousand Dollars
($5,000.00), or both, in the discretion of the court. In addition to any
penalties that the court is otherwise authorized to impose, the court
may, in its discretion, order such restitution as it deems appropriate.
(b) In construing this subsection (1), a cemetery shall mean any plot of ground (i) on which are grave markers of stone, wood, metal or any other material recognizable as marking graves, or (ii) the boundaries of which are defined by a recorded plat, a fence line or corner markers, or trees, or are defined in any other discernible manner.
(2) (a) Every
person who * * * knowingly
and willfully or maliciously digs up, except as otherwise
provided by law, or in any way invades, desecrates or mutilates
any corpse or remains of any human being, or causes through word, deed
or action the same to happen, * * * is guilty of a
felony and, upon conviction, shall be * * * punished by imprisonment
in the Penitentiary for not less than two (2) years nor more than * * * twenty (20) years, or * * * by a fine of not more than Five
Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), or both, in the discretion of the court.
(b) The prohibitions of this subsection (2) shall not apply to the good faith harvesting of any organ for transplant or to any good faith use of a cadaver or body part for medical or scientific education or research.
SECTION 6. Section 97-17-39, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-17-39. If any person, by
any means whatever, * * *
willfully or mischievously * * *
injures or destroys any of the work, materials, or furniture of
any courthouse or jail, or other public building, or schoolhouse or church, or
defaces any of the walls or other parts thereof, or * * * writes, or makes any
drawings or character, or does any other act, either on or in * * * that building or the walls thereof,
or * * *
defaces or injures the trees, fences, pavements, or soil, on the
grounds belonging thereto, or an ornamental or shade tree on any public road or
street leading thereto, such person, upon conviction, for such offense, shall
be punished as follows:
(a) If the damage caused by the destruction or defacement of such property has a value of less than Three Hundred Dollars ($300.00), any person who is convicted of such offense shall be fined not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) or be imprisoned in the county jail for not more than one (1) year, or both.
(b) If the damage caused by the destruction or defacement of such property has a value equal to or exceeding Three Hundred Dollars ($300.00), any person who is convicted of such offense shall be fined not more than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) or be imprisoned in the State Penitentiary for up to five (5) years, or both.
SECTION 7. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2013.