Loading chat...

GA HB1426

Bill

Status

Introduced

2/22/2022

Primary Sponsor

Beth Moore

Click for details

Origin

House of Representatives

2021-2022 Regular Session

AI Summary

  • Allows defendants in capital cases where the death penalty is sought to file a pretrial notice claiming intellectual disability, triggering a court hearing where a finding by preponderance of the evidence bars the state from seeking the death penalty
  • If intellectual disability is not established pretrial, requires the court to trifurcate the trial into three phases: guilt determination, intellectual disability determination, and (if applicable) sentencing with aggravating and mitigating circumstances
  • Mandates a sentence of life imprisonment instead of the death penalty if the trier of fact finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the convicted defendant is intellectually disabled
  • Adds pretrial intellectual disability proceedings to the Supreme Court's review of pretrial matters in death penalty cases and excludes time spent on such proceedings from speedy trial calculations
  • Updates terminology throughout Title 17 from "guilty but with intellectual disability" to "guilty but intellectually disabled" and limits that verdict to felony cases where the death penalty is not sought

Legislative Description

Criminal procedure; accused's claim of intellectual disability involving a capital offense in which the death penalty is sought; provide for pretrial proceedings

Last Action

House Second Readers

2/28/2022

Committee Referrals

Judiciary - Non-Civil2/24/2022

Full Bill Text

No bill text available