CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT

SENATE BILL 5001

Chapter 3, Laws of 2003

58th Legislature
2003 Regular Session



FELONY MURDER



EFFECTIVE DATE: 2/12/03

Passed by the Senate January 29, 2003
  YEAS 49   NAYS 0

BRAD OWEN
________________________________________    
President of the Senate
Passed by the House February 5, 2003
  YEAS 95   NAYS 1

FRANK CHOPP
________________________________________    
Speaker of the House of Representatives


 
CERTIFICATE

I, Milton H. Doumit, Jr., Secretary of the Senate of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is SENATE BILL 5001 as passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on the dates hereon set forth.

MILTON H. DOUMIT JR.
________________________________________    
Secretary
Approved February 12, 2003.








GARY F. LOCKE
________________________________________    
Governor of the State of Washington
 
FILED
February 12, 2003 - 3:40 p.m.







Secretary of State
State of Washington


_____________________________________________ 

SENATE BILL 5001
_____________________________________________

Passed Legislature - 2003 Regular Session
State of Washington58th Legislature2003 Regular Session

By Senators Zarelli, McCaslin, Kastama, T. Sheldon, Carlson, Esser and Sheahan

Read first time 01/13/2003.   Referred to Committee on Judiciary.



     AN ACT Relating to assault as a predicate for felony murder; amending RCW 9A.32.050; creating a new section; and declaring an emergency.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that the 1975 legislature clearly and unambiguously stated that any felony, including assault, can be a predicate offense for felony murder. The intent was evident: Punish, under the applicable murder statutes, those who commit a homicide in the course and in furtherance of a felony. This legislature reaffirms that original intent and further intends to honor and reinforce the court's decisions over the past twenty-eight years interpreting "in furtherance of" as requiring the death to be sufficiently close in time and proximity to the predicate felony. The legislature does not agree with or accept the court's findings of legislative intent in State v. Andress, Docket No. 71170-4 (October 24, 2002), and reasserts that assault has always been and still remains a predicate offense for felony murder in the second degree.
     To prevent a miscarriage of the legislature's original intent, the legislature finds in light of State v. Andress, Docket No. 71170-4 (October 24, 2002), that it is necessary to amend RCW 9A.32.050. This amendment is intended to be curative in nature. The legislature urges the supreme court to apply this interpretation retroactively to July 1, 1976.

Sec. 2   RCW 9A.32.050 and 1975-'76 2nd ex.s. c 38 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) A person is guilty of murder in the second degree when:
     (a) With intent to cause the death of another person but without premeditation, he or she causes the death of such person or of a third person; or
     (b) He or she commits or attempts to commit any felony, including assault, other than those enumerated in RCW 9A.32.030(1)(c), and, in the course of and in furtherance of such crime or in immediate flight therefrom, he or she, or another participant, causes the death of a person other than one of the participants; except that in any prosecution under this subdivision (1)(b) in which the defendant was not the only participant in the underlying crime, if established by the defendant by a preponderance of the evidence, it is a defense that the defendant:
     (i) Did not commit the homicidal act or in any way solicit, request, command, importune, cause, or aid the commission thereof; and
     (ii) Was not armed with a deadly weapon, or any instrument, article, or substance readily capable of causing death or serious physical injury; and
     (iii) Had no reasonable grounds to believe that any other participant was armed with such a weapon, instrument, article, or substance; and
     (iv) Had no reasonable grounds to believe that any other participant intended to engage in conduct likely to result in death or serious physical injury.
     (2) Murder in the second degree is a class A felony.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect immediately.


         Passed by the Senate January 29, 2003.
         Passed by the House February 5, 2003.
         Approved by the Governor February 12, 2003.
         Filed in Office of Secretary of State February 12, 2003.