MS SB2017

Amends Mississippi Code Section 99-19-101 to prohibit imposing the death penalty on individuals with mental retardation.

Adds a requirement that jurors must find in writing that the defendant is not a person with mental retardation before imposing a death sentence.

Defines "mental retardation" as significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with defects in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period.

Establishes that no person with mental retardation shall be sentenced to death or executed.

Takes effect July 1, 2013.