SENATE BILL REPORT

SB 6309

This analysis was prepared by non-partisan legislative staff for the use of legislative members in their deliberations. This analysis is not a part of the legislation nor does it constitute a statement of legislative intent.

Title: An act relating to including persons acquitted by reason of insanity within the slayer statute.

Brief Description: Including persons acquitted by reason of insanity within the slayer statute.

Background: Under certain circumstances, an individual who takes the life of another is not entitled to inherit property or receive any benefit from the person the individual killed. This rule, in statute as part of the state's estate distribution laws, is commonly referred to as the slayer statute. A slayer is a person who participates, either as a principal or an accessory before the fact, in the willful and unlawful killing of any other person.

Summary of Bill (Proposed Substitute): A person who is found not guilty by reason of insanity of the killing of a person is deemed to be a slayer, for the purposes of the state's slayer statute.

Staff Summary of Public Testimony: CON: This bill as drafted goes beyond the Supreme Court's holding in Kissinger v. Hoge. The Kissinger case decided whether a person who was found not guilty by reason of insanity could use that finding as a defense in a slayer statute proceeding. The answer was no, the court will look at the individual facts of the case to determine whether the killing was willful. The language in the bill lumps all persons who are found not guilty by reason of insanity into the same category even though there will be people who are so severely mentally ill they would not meet the definition of willful.