MN SF3781

Authorizes the death penalty in Minnesota for eight categories of capital offenses, including first-degree murder during sexual assault, murder of victims under age 6, murder-for-hire, multiple murders, murder of judges/prosecutors/public defenders, and murder by offenders with prior convictions for first-degree murder or child sexual assault

Requires prosecutors to file written notice before trial if seeking the death penalty, mandates appointment of two defense attorneys for capital defendants, and provides automatic Supreme Court review within 60 days of all death sentences

Prohibits execution of defendants who were under 18 at the time of the crime, are pregnant, are developmentally disabled, or lack mental capacity to understand the death penalty and reasons for it

Establishes a bifurcated trial process requiring unanimous jury findings beyond a reasonable doubt on future dangerousness and, in certain cases, direct causation of death before the death penalty can be imposed, with jurors also weighing mitigating circumstances

Authorizes the Board of Pardons to hear commutation petitions from death-sentenced inmates and designates lethal injection as the execution method, with executions to occur at maximum security facilities designated by the Commissioner of Corrections