Honorable Joe Moody, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB314 by Toth (Relating to prohibiting the death penalty for a defendant whose conviction is based solely on certain evidence.), As Introduced
The bill would prohibit the death penalty for a defendant who is found guilty in a capital felony case based solely on a single eyewitness testimony without any corroborating evidence.
In fiscal year 2022, there were two individuals admitted to a state correctional institution who had been sentenced to death for a capital offense. The number of individuals who would not be sentenced to death is indeterminate because data is not available to differentiate the cases in which a single eyewitness testimony without corroborating evidence was used as the sole basis of guilt. It is assumed that any impact on state correctional populations or on the demand for state correctional resources would not be significant.