Felony Murder for Deadly Fentanyl Distribution Act of 2023

Subjects: Crime and Law Enforcement


<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 380 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 380

 To amend title 18, United States Code, to punish the distribution of 
             fentanyl resulting in death as felony murder.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            February 9, 2023

 Mr. Rubio (for himself, Ms. Ernst, Mr. Marshall, Mrs. Hyde-Smith, Mr. 
 Cruz, Mr. Hagerty, Mr. Cassidy, Mr. Risch, Mr. Lankford, Mr. Daines, 
Mr. Wicker, Mr. Braun, Mr. Budd, Mr. Cotton, and Mrs. Britt) introduced 
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 
                            on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 18, United States Code, to punish the distribution of 
             fentanyl resulting in death as felony murder.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Felony Murder for Deadly Fentanyl 
Distribution Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. FENTANYL DISTRIBUTION RESULTING IN DEATH PUNISHED AS FELONY 
              MURDER.

    Section 1111 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), in the second sentence, by inserting 
        ``, distributing fentanyl'' after ``child abuse'';
            (2) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) by striking ``(b) Within'' and inserting ``(b) 
                (1) Within''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(2) Whoever is guilty of murder in the first degree by 
distributing fentanyl shall be punished by death or by imprisonment for 
life.''; and
            (3) in subsection (c)--
                    (A) by redesignating paragraphs (4) through (6) as 
                paragraphs (6) through (8), respectively; and
                    (B) by inserting after paragraph (3) the following:
            ``(4) the terms `controlled substance' and `distribute' 
        have the meanings given the terms in section 102 of the 
        Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802);
            ``(5) `distributing fentanyl' means to distribute a 
        controlled substance--
                    ``(A) involving 2 grams or more of a mixture or 
                substance containing a detectable amount of N-phenyl-N-
                [1-(2-phenylethyl)-4-piperidinyl] propanamide or .5 
                grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a 
                detectable amount of any analogue of N-phenyl-N-[1-(2-
                phenylethyl)-4-piperidinyl] propanamide;
                    ``(B) that results in death from the use of a 
                mixture or substance described in subparagraph (A); and
                    ``(C) knowing or having reason to know that the 
                controlled substance contains a detectable amount of a 
                mixture or substance described in subparagraph (A).''.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
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