Honorable Joe Moody, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB727 by Rose (Relating to the applicability of the death penalty to a capital offense committed by a person with severe mental illness.), As Introduced
The bill would prohibit the death penalty for a defendant who at the time of the commission of a capital offense was a person with severe mental illness.
In fiscal year 2022, there were two individuals admitted into 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 those cases involving a defendant with severe mental illness from all other capital felony cases. It is assumed that any impact on state correctional populations or on the demand for state correctional resources would not be significant.