HB 136 Summary

• Creates new section 2929.025 defining "serious mental illness" as diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, or delusional disorder that significantly impaired the person's capacity to conform conduct to law or appreciate the nature/consequences of their conduct at the time of the offense.

• Prohibits imposing the death penalty for aggravated murder if the offender had serious mental illness at the time of the offense, making them ineligible for death sentence.

• Establishes pretrial hearing procedures where defendants can raise serious mental illness claims before trial; court must order evaluation and defendant has burden of proving by preponderance of evidence that they meet the serious mental illness standard.

• Allows persons sentenced to death to file petitions under Ohio's postconviction relief procedures claiming serious mental illness at time of offense, which constitutes waiver of right to be sentenced under prior law and requires resentencing to life imprisonment without parole.

• Requires court-appointed counsel for indigent defendants raising serious mental illness claims and provides funding for evaluations and expert services necessary for proper representation.