Senate Bill 2124

AN ACT TO CREATE THE OFFENSE OF THREATENING A PUBLIC OFFICIAL OR LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER; TO ENACT DEFINITIONS; TO SPECIFY PUNISHMENT THEREFOR; 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 official when the person knowingly and willfully delivers or conveys, directly or indirectly, to a public official, by any means, a communication:

(a) Containing a threat that places the public official or a member of the public official's immediate family in reasonable apprehension of immediate or future bodily harm, sexual assault, confinement, or restraint; or

(b) Containing a threat that places the public official or a member of the public official's immediate family in a reasonable apprehension that damage will occur to property in the custody, care, or control of the public official or the public official's immediate family; and

(2) The threat is conveyed because of the performance or nonperformance of some public duty, because of the hostility of the person making the threat toward the status or position of the public official, or because of any other factor related to the official's public existence.

(3) For the purposes of this section:

(a) "Public official," 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, to discharge a public duty for the state or any of its political subdivisions, or, in the case of an elective office, any person who has filed the required documents for nomination or election to such office. The term also includes a sworn law enforcement or peace officer.

(b) "Immediate family" means a public official's spouse, child or children.

(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.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2016.