Title: Felony Murder for Deadly Fentanyl Distribution Act
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement

Summary:
Felony Murder for Deadly Fentanyl Distribution Act
This bill makes the distribution of fentanyl resulting in death a first degree murder.
An individual who is guilty of first degree murder by distributing fentanyl is subject to death or life in prison.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4876 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4876

  To punish the distribution of fentanyl resulting in death as felony 
                                murder.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 15, 2022

Mr. Rubio (for himself, Mr. Cotton, Mr. Scott of Florida, Mr. Hagerty, 
 Mr. Wicker, Ms. Ernst, Mr. Cassidy, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Braun, Mr. Cruz, 
    Mr. Hawley, Mrs. Blackburn, and Mrs. Hyde-Smith) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                             the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  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''.

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), 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', `distribute', and 
        `distributor' 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 such 
                mixture or substance; and
                    ``(C) knowing or having reason to know contains a 
                detectable amount of such mixture or substance.''.
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