HB 125 - Extreme Crimes Protection Act

• Requires that before imposing a death sentence, a jury must unanimously find beyond a reasonable doubt at least one statutory aggravating circumstance exists and that aggravating circumstances outweigh mitigating circumstances.

• Changes the standard for weighing aggravating and mitigating circumstances from "preponderance of the evidence" to "beyond a reasonable doubt" for death penalty determinations.

• Requires the jury to make unanimous and specific findings as to each aggravating circumstance alleged by the State, rather than just finding the existence of at least one aggravating circumstance.

• Replaces the term "serious intellectual developmental disorder" with "intellectual disability" and modifies the definition of significantly subaverage intellectual functioning to align with U.S. Supreme Court precedent in Hall v. Florida.

• Makes a death sentence discretionary for courts (using "may" instead of "shall") when jury findings support it, and requires courts to state reasons in writing when declining to impose death after a jury unanimously finds aggravating circumstances outweigh mitigating circumstances.