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To: Judiciary B
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION 2026
By: Representative Blackmon
HOUSE BILL NO. 744
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 97-3-19, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO 1
INCLUDE DEATH CAUSED BY THE COMMISSION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AS 2
CAPITAL MURDER; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 3
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI: 4
SECTION 1. Section 97-3-19, Mississippi Code of 1972, is 5
amended as follows: 6
97-3-19. (1) The killing of a human being without the 7
authority of law by any means or in any manner shall be murder in 8
the following cases: 9
(a) When done with deliberate design to effect the 10
death of the person killed, or of any human being, shall be 11
first-degree murder; 12
(b) When done in the commission of an act eminently 13
dangerous to others and evincing a depraved heart, regardless of 14
human life, although without any premeditated design to effect the 15
death of any particular individual, shall be second-degree murder; 16
(c) When done without any design to effect death by any 17
person engaged in the commission of any felony other than rape, 18
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kidnapping, burglary, arson, robbery, sexual battery, unnatural 19
intercourse with any child under the age of twelve (12), or 20
nonconsensual unnatural intercourse with mankind, or felonious 21
abuse and/or battery of a child in violation of subsection (2) of 22
Section 97-5-39, or in any attempt to commit such felonies, shall 23
be first-degree murder; 24
(d) When done with deliberate design to effect the 25
death of an unborn child, shall be first-degree murder. 26
(2) The killing of a human being without the authority of 27
law by any means or in any manner shall be capital murder in the 28
following cases: 29
(a) Murder which is perpetrated by killing a peace 30
officer or fireman while such officer or fireman is acting in his 31
official capacity or by reason of an act performed in his official 32
capacity, and with knowledge that the victim was a peace officer 33
or fireman. For purposes of this paragraph, the term "peace 34
officer" means any state or federal law enforcement officer, 35
including, but not limited to, a federal park ranger, the sheriff 36
of or police officer of a city or town, a conservation officer, a 37
parole officer, a judge, senior status judge, special judge, 38
district attorney, legal assistant to a district attorney, county 39
prosecuting attorney or any other court official, an agent of the 40
Alcoholic Beverage Control Division of the Department of Revenue, 41
an agent of the Bureau of Narcotics, personnel of the Mississippi 42
Highway Patrol, and the employees of the Department of Corrections 43
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who are designated as peace officers by the Commissioner of 44
Corrections pursuant to Section 47-5-54, and the superintendent 45
and his deputies, guards, officers and other employees of the 46
Mississippi State Penitentiary; 47
(b) Murder which is perpetrated by a person who is 48
under sentence of life imprisonment; 49
(c) Murder which is perpetrated by use or detonation of 50
a bomb or explosive device; 51
(d) Murder which is perpetrated by any person who has 52
been offered or has received anything of value for committing the 53
murder, and all parties to such a murder, are guilty as 54
principals; 55
(e) When done with or without any design to effect 56
death, by any person engaged in the commission of the crime of 57
rape, burglary, kidnapping, arson, robbery, sexual battery, 58
domestic violence as provided in Section 97-3-7, unnatural 59
intercourse with any child under the age of twelve (12), or 60
nonconsensual unnatural intercourse with mankind, or in any 61
attempt to commit such felonies; 62
(f) When done with or without any design to effect 63
death, by any person engaged in the commission of the crime of 64
felonious abuse and/or battery of a child in violation of 65
subsection (2) of Section 97-5-39, or in any attempt to commit 66
such felony; 67
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(g) Murder which is perpetrated on educational property 68
as defined in Section 97-37-17; 69
(h) Murder which is perpetrated by the killing of any 70
elected official of a county, municipal, state or federal 71
government with knowledge that the victim was such public 72
official; 73
(i) Murder of three (3) or more persons who are killed 74
incident to one (1) act, scheme, course of conduct or criminal 75
episode; 76
(j) Murder of more than three (3) persons within a 77
three-year period; 78
(k) Murder which is perpetrated by the killing of a 79
person who: (i) is or would be a witness for the state or federal 80
government in a criminal trial; (ii) is a confidential informant 81
for any agency of the state or federal government; or (iii) is any 82
other person who was cooperating or assisting the state or federal 83
government or was suspected of cooperation or assistance to the 84
state or federal government, if the motive for the killing was 85
either the person's status as a witness, potential witness or 86
informant, or was to prevent the cooperation or assistance to the 87
prosecution. It shall not be a defense to a killing under this 88
subsection that the defendant erroneously suspected or believed 89
the victim to have cooperated or assisted the state or federal 90
government. 91
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ST: Capital murder; include death resulting
from domestic violence as.
(3) An indictment for murder or capital murder shall serve 92
as notice to the defendant that the indictment may include any and 93
all lesser included offenses thereof, including, but not limited 94
to, manslaughter. 95
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from 96
and after July 1, 2026. 97