HOUSE BILL ANALYSIS

                  HB 1297 

Title:  An act relating to aggravating circumstances in first degree murder.

Brief Description:  Including the existence of a no contact order as an aggravating circumstance in first degree murder.

Sponsors:  Representatives DeBolt, Sheahan, Ballasiotes, Costa, Benson, McMorris, Thompson, Lambert, Radcliff, K. Schmidt, Mitchell, Sherstad, Robertson, Pennington, Hickel, Kastama, Sullivan, Sump, Sheldon, Delvin, Cooke, Morris, Wensman, Mason and Mielke.

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON LAW & JUSTICE

Staff:  Bill Perry (786-7123).

Background:

CRIMES SUBJECT TO THE DEATH PENALTY OR LIFE IN PRISON

Only a person convicted of a first-degree murder that is both premeditated and aggravated may be sentenced to death or to life in prison without release. 

First-degree murder is the killing of another when committed under one of the following three conditions:

  oWith premeditated intent;

  oWith extreme indifference to human life while engaged in conduct creating a grave risk of death; or

  oWhile committing or attempting to commit, or immediate flight from the commission or attempted commission of first- or second-degree robbery, rape, arson, or kidnapping, or first-degree burglary.

The death penalty or life imprisonment is a possibility only under some circumstances involving the first of these three conditions, i.e.,  only under premeditated first-degree murder.

However, not all premeditated first-degree murders are subject to these sentences.  Life in prison without the possibility of release is available only if the premeditated first-degree murder is also Aaggravated.@   The death penalty is a available only if the murder is "aggravated" and there are not sufficient Amitigating@ circumstances to merit leniency.  If the prosecutor has decided to seek the death penalty, a special sentencing proceeding is held following a conviction for premeditated aggravated first-degree murder to determine whether the death penalty will be imposed.  At this hearing the question to be decided is whether there were sufficient mitigating circumstances to merit leniency.  Leniency means life in prison without possibility of release. 

AGGRAVATING CIRCUMSTANCES

Aggravating circumstances that the prosecution must prove before a sentence of life in prison without release or a sentence of death may be imposed include:

  oThe victim was a law enforcement, corrections, probation or parole officer, firefighter, judge, juror, witness, prosecuting attorney, defense attorney, or newsreporter, and the murder was related to the victim's position;

  oThe offender had been previously convicted of some crime and was in prison or jail, or on leave from prison, or was an escapee from prison;

  oThe offender paid another to commit the murder, or solicited or agreed to receive payment for the murder;

  oThe offender committed the murder to conceal a crime or protect the identity of a criminal or to avoid prosecution as a persistent offender;

  oThe offender committed the murder to obtain, maintain, or advance a position in an organization or group;

  oThe offender committed the murder as part of a drive-by shooting;

  oThe offender murdered multiple victims in a single act or as part of a common scheme or plan; or

  oThe offender committed the murder in the course or furtherance of or in flight from:  robbery in the first or second degree; rape in the first or second degree; residential burglary or burglary in the first or second degree; kidnapping in the first degree; or arson in the first degree.

Again, in order to impose the death penalty, the jury must find beyond a reasonable doubt both that the defendant is guilty of aggravated, premeditated first-degree murder and that there are not sufficient mitigating factors to merit leniency.  If there is not a finding of a lack of mitigating factors, the sentence is life in prison without the possibility of release.

PROTECTION ORDERS

Under various statutes a person may be ordered by a court to avoid contact with another.  Several statutes deal specifically with protection orders issued to prevent contact between members of the same family or household.  For purposes of some of these statutes, Afamily or household members@ is defined to include spouses, ex-spouses, persons with a child in common, adults related by blood or marriage or who are or have lived together, persons 16 or older who live or have lived together and have or had a dating relationship, persons with a legal parent-child relationship, including a step-relationship, and grandparents and grandchildren.

In the case of an arrest and prosecution for certain crimes committed by one family or household member against another, pre-trial orders may prohibit the defendant from having contact with the alleged victim.  Following conviction for one of these offenses, a similar order may be issued as part of the sentence.  These Adomestic violence@ crimes include rape, assault, reckless endangerment, coercion, burglary, trespass, malicious mischief, kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, and stalking.

Similar kinds of restraining orders may be issued as part of a civil action for marriage dissolution, maintenance, or child support.  In addition, a person who alleges past domestic violence and the likelihood of irreparable injury from future domestic violence may get a no contact order issued against the alleged offender.  Temporary ex parte orders may be obtained pending a hearing, and in some instances where efforts at personal service would be demonstrably futile or unduly burdensome, service of notice to the respondent may be made by publication or by mail.

Summary of Bill:  An additional aggravating circumstance is provided for purposes of qualifying a premeditated first-degree murder for a sentence of life in prison without possibility of release or a sentence of death.

An aggravating circumstance exists when the victim was in a family or household member relationship with the offender or an accomplice of the offender, and:

(1)At the time of the murder, a no contact or restraining order was in place;

(2)Before the murder, the order had been properly served on the offender; and

(3)The murder violated the terms of the order.

Fiscal Note:  Not requested.

Effective Date:  Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

                 Office of Program Research