Honorable Joe Moody, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB1736 by Leach (Relating to the extent of a defendant's criminal responsibility for the conduct of a coconspirator in a capital murder case and the review of certain convictions by the Board of Pardons and Paroles.), As Introduced
The bill would remove the applicability of certain current law establishing criminal responsibility for conduct of another from the prosecution of a capital murder offense. The bill would establish that a conspirator would be guilty under the law of parties of capital murder committed by a coconspirator in the attempt to carry out a conspiracy to commit another felony, though having no intent to commit the capital murder, only if the conspirator was a major participant in the conspiracy; in attempting to carry out the conspiracy, the conspirator acted with reckless indifference to human life; and the capital murder was committed in furtherance of the unlawful purpose of the conspiracy.
In fiscal year 2022, there were 365 individuals arrested, 1 individual placed on adult community supervision, 14 individuals placed on juvenile probation supervision, 99 individuals admitted into an adult state correctional institution, and 4 individuals admitted into a juvenile state correctional facility for the offense of capital murder.
While the impact on state correctional populations or on the demand for state correctional resources cannot be determined due to a lack of data to identify the number of capital murder cases in which the individual was convicted as a party to the offense, it is assumed that any impact would not be significant.