MS SB2130

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

Adds a requirement that juries must unanimously find in writing that a defendant is not a person with mental retardation (if alleged by the defense) 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.

Effective date is July 1, 2014.