MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2017 Regular Session
To: Judiciary, Division A
By: Senator(s) McMahan
AN ACT ENTITLED THE "BLUE, RED AND MED LIVES MATTER ACT OF 2017"; TO AMEND SECTIONS 99-19-301, 99-19-305 AND 99-19-307, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO INCLUDE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS, FIREFIGHTERS AND EMERGENCY MEDICAL PERSONNEL IN THE CLASS OF VICTIMS WHERE OFFENSES ARE SUBJECT TO HATE CRIMES PENALTIES; TO AMEND SECTION 97-3-19, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO INCLUDE EMERGENCY MEDICAL PERSONNEL IN THE CAPITAL MURDER STATUTE; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Blue, Red and Med Lives Matter Act of 2017."
SECTION 2. Section 99-19-301, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
99-19-301. (1) The penalty for any felony or misdemeanor shall be subject to enhancement as provided in Sections 99-19-301 through 99-19-307 if the felony or misdemeanor was committed because of the actual or perceived race, color, ancestry, ethnicity, religion, national origin or gender of the victim or because of actual or perceived employment as a law enforcement officer, firefighter or emergency medical technician.
(2) As used in this section:
(a) "Law enforcement officer" means any active officer on duty for a municipality, county, or state law enforcement agency, peace officer, sheriff, deputy sheriff, probation or parole officer, marshal, deputy, wildlife enforcement agent, state correctional officer, or commissioned agent of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, whose permanent duties include making arrests, performing search and seizures, execution of criminal arrest warrants, execution of civil seizure warrants, any civil functions performed by sheriffs or deputy sheriffs, enforcement of penal or traffic laws, or the care, custody, control, or supervision of inmates.
(b) "Firefighter" mean any firefighter regularly employed or voluntarily active by a fire department of any municipality, county, or fire protection district of the State of Mississippi.
(c) "Emergency medical technician" shall have the same meaning ascribed to it by Sections 41-59-33 and 41-59-35.
SECTION 3. Section 99-19-305, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
99-19-305. (1) Upon conviction or adjudication of guilt of a defendant where notice has been duly given that an enhanced penalty will be sought as provided in Sections 99-19-301 through 99-19-307, the court shall conduct a separate sentencing proceeding to determine the sentence. The proceeding shall be conducted by the trial judge before the trial jury as soon as practicable. If, through impossibility or inability, the trial jury is unable to reconvene for a hearing on the issue of penalty, having determined the guilt of the accused, the trial judge shall summon a jury to determine whether an enhanced penalty should be imposed. If trial by jury has been waived, or if the defendant pleaded guilty, the sentencing proceeding shall be conducted before a jury impaneled for that purpose. Provided, however, that if the defendant enters a plea of guilty and waives trial by jury for the sentencing proceeding, the sentencing proceeding shall be conducted before the trial judge sitting without a jury. In the proceeding, evidence may be presented as to any matter that the court deems relevant to sentence. However, this subsection shall not be construed to authorize the introduction of any evidence secured in violation of the Constitution of the United States or of the State of Mississippi. The state and the defendant or his counsel or both defendant and counsel shall be permitted to present arguments for or against any sentence sought.
(2) In order to impose an enhanced penalty under the provisions of Sections 99-19-301 through 99-19-307, the jury must find beyond a reasonable doubt:
(a) That the defendant perceived, knew, or had reasonable grounds to know or perceive that the victim was within the class delineated; and
(b) That the defendant maliciously and with specific intent committed the offense because the victim was within the class delineated.
(3) That the victim was within the class delineated means that the reason the underlying crime was committed was the victim's actual or perceived race, color, religion, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin or gender, or that the reason the underlying crime was committed was the victim's actual or perceived employment as a uniformed law enforcement officer, uniformed firefighter or uniformed emergency medical technician.
SECTION 4. Section 99-19-307, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
99-19-307. In the event it is found beyond a reasonable doubt that the offense was committed by reason of (a) the actual or perceived race, color, ancestry, ethnicity, religion, national origin or gender of the victim, or (b) the victim's actual or perceived employment as a uniformed law enforcement officer, uniformed firefighter or uniformed emergency medical technician, then the penalty for the offense may be enhanced by punishment for a term of imprisonment of up to twice that authorized by law for the offense committed, or a fine of up to twice that authorized by law for the offense committed, or both.
SECTION 5. Section 97-3-19, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-3-19. (1) The killing of a human being without the authority of law by any means or in any manner shall be murder in the following cases:
(a) When done with deliberate design to effect the death of the person killed, or of any human being, shall be first-degree murder;
(b) When done in the commission of an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved heart, regardless of human life, although without any premeditated design to effect the death of any particular individual, shall be second-degree murder;
(c) When done without any design to effect death by any person engaged in the commission of any felony other than rape, kidnapping, burglary, arson, robbery, sexual battery, unnatural intercourse with any child under the age of twelve (12), or nonconsensual unnatural intercourse with mankind, or felonious abuse and/or battery of a child in violation of subsection (2) of Section 97-5-39, or in any attempt to commit such felonies, shall be first-degree murder;
(d) When done with deliberate design to effect the death of an unborn child, shall be first-degree murder.
(2) The killing of a human being without the authority of law by any means or in any manner shall be capital murder in the following cases:
(a) Murder which is
perpetrated by killing a peace officer * * *, fireman or emergency medical technician
while such officer * * *,
fireman or emergency medical technician is acting in his official
capacity or by reason of an act performed in his official capacity, and with
knowledge that the victim was a peace officer * * *, fireman or emergency medical
technician. For purposes of this paragraph, the term "peace
officer" means any state or * * * local law enforcement officer,
including, but not limited to, * * * a sheriff * * *, a municipal police officer * * *, a conservation officer, a
parole officer, a judge, senior status judge, special judge, district attorney,
legal assistant to a district attorney, county prosecuting attorney or any
other court official, an agent of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division of
the Department of Revenue, an agent of the Bureau of Narcotics, personnel of
the Mississippi Highway Patrol, * * * the employees of the Department of
Corrections who are designated as peace officers by the Commissioner of
Corrections pursuant to Section 47-5-54, * * * the superintendent and his deputies,
guards, officers, and other employees of the Mississippi State
Penitentiary; "emergency medical technician" has the same meaning
ascribed by Sections 41-59-33 and 41-29-35;
(b) Murder which is perpetrated by a person who is under sentence of life imprisonment;
(c) Murder which is perpetrated by use or detonation of a bomb or explosive device;
(d) Murder which is perpetrated by any person who has been offered or has received anything of value for committing the murder, and all parties to such a murder, are guilty as principals;
(e) When done with or without any design to effect death, by any person engaged in the commission of the crime of rape, burglary, kidnapping, arson, robbery, sexual battery, unnatural intercourse with any child under the age of twelve (12), or nonconsensual unnatural intercourse with mankind, or in any attempt to commit such felonies;
(f) When done with or without any design to effect death, by any person engaged in the commission of the crime of felonious abuse and/or battery of a child in violation of subsection (2) of Section 97-5-39, or in any attempt to commit such felony;
(g) Murder which is perpetrated on educational property as defined in Section 97-37-17;
(h) Murder which is perpetrated by the killing of any elected official of a county, municipal, state or federal government with knowledge that the victim was such public official;
(i) Murder of three
(3) or more persons who are killed incident to one (1) act, scheme, course of
conduct or criminal episode * * *; and
(j) Murder of more than three (3) persons within a three-year period.
(3) An indictment for murder or capital murder shall serve as notice to the defendant that the indictment may include any and all lesser included offenses thereof, including, but not limited to, manslaughter.
SECTION 6. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2017.