Source: https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb2712%20intr.htm&yr=2020&sesstype=RS&i=2712
Timestamp: 2020-03-28 21:31:21
Document Index: 47815808

Matched Legal Cases: ['§61', '§62', '§61', '§61', '§61', '§61', '§61', '§61', '§61', '§61', '§62', '§62', '§62', '§62', '§61', '§61', '§61', '§61', '§61', '§61', '§61', '§61']

By Delegate Foster, Higginbotham, Fast, Dean, Wilson, Porterfield and Rowan
A BILL to repeal §61-11-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; to repeal §62-3-15 of said code; to amend and reenact §61-2-2 of said code; to amend said code by adding thereto seven new sections, designated §61-2-2a, §61-2-2b, §61-2-2c, §61-2-2d, §61-2-2e, §61-2-2f and §61-2-2g; and to amend said code by adding thereto four new sections, designated §62-7-4, §62-7-5, §62-7-6 and §62-7-6a, all relating to death penalty for first degree murder; procedures, standards and findings applicable to imposition thereof in certain instances including aggravating and mitigating circumstances; sentencing; providing automatic review of the death penalty by the Supreme Court of Appeals; providing for forensic deoxyribonucleic acid (“DNA”) testing of biological material in death penalty cases; providing for execution of the death sentence by lethal injection; providing for delivery of sentence of death to officer retaining custody of person so sentenced; providing for transmission of indictment, order of conviction, sentence and judgment entered thereon to the warden of the state correctional facility; transfer of person sentenced to death to the state correctional facility; execution; providing presence of certain persons be requested for the execution; providing for certification that sentence of death has been executed; and providing for disposition of the body.
Any person convicted of murder of in the first degree shall be punished by confinement in the penitentiary for life sentenced to death if any one or more of the aggravating circumstances enumerated in §61-2-2b of this code have been charged and found to be true without a finding of any one or more of the mitigating circumstances enumerated in §61-2-2c of this code. Any person otherwise convicted of murder in the first degree is sentenced to confinement in a state correctional facility for life without probation or parole.
After a verdict of murder in the first degree is recorded and before the jury is discharged, the court shall conduct a separate sentencing hearing in which the jury shall determine whether the defendant shall be sentenced to death or life imprisonment. In the sentencing hearing, evidence may be presented as to any matter that the court determines relevant and admissible on the question of the sentence to be imposed, including evidence relating to any of the aggravating or mitigating circumstances specified in §61-2-2b and §61-2-2c of this code. Evidence of aggravating circumstances shall be limited to those circumstances specified in §61-2-2b of this code. After the presentation of evidence, the court shall permit counsel to present argument for and against the sentence of death. The court shall then instruct the jury in accordance with subsection (c) of this section. Failure of the jury to unanimously agree upon a sentence does not impeach or in any way affect the guilty verdict previously recorded.
(1) The aggravating circumstances specified in §61-2-2b of this code for which any evidence has been presented;
(2) Mitigating circumstances, including those specified in §61-2-2c of this code, for which any evidence has been presented;
(4) The sentence shall be a sentence of death if the jury unanimously finds at least one aggravating circumstance specified in §61-2-2b of this code and no mitigating circumstance or if the jury unanimously finds one or more aggravating circumstances which outweigh all mitigating circumstances. The sentence shall be life imprisonment without probation or parole in all other cases;
(10) The murder was the result of, or was contributed to, by the defendant’s use of a controlled substance;
(13) The defendant has been convicted of another crime under the provisions of chapter 60A of this code at the time of the commission of the murder at issue.
(7) The defendant’s participation in the murder at issue was relatively minor; and
(a) Whenever the death penalty is imposed and upon the judgment becoming final in the circuit court, the sentence shall automatically be reviewed on the record by the Supreme Court of Appeals. The clerk of the circuit court, within 10 days after receiving the transcript, shall transmit the entire record and transcript to the Supreme Court of Appeals together with a notice prepared by the clerk and a report prepared by the circuit judge. The notice shall set forth the title and docket number of the case, the name of the defendant and the name and address of his or her attorney, a narrative statement of the judgment, the offense and the punishment prescribed. The report shall be in a standard form prepared and supplied by the Supreme Court of Appeals.
(2) Whether the evidence supports the jury’s or judge’s finding of a statutory aggravating circumstance; and
(i) Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the circumstances under which a person may obtain DNA testing or other post conviction relief under any other provision of law.
The clerk of the court which pronounces the sentence of death shall, as soon as possible after sentence, deliver a certified copy of the sentence to the sheriff, who shall retain the custody of the convict sentenced to death until he or she is delivered to a properly authorized guard sent by the warden for the removal of the convict to the state correctional facility. The clerk of the court shall also forthwith transmit to the warden of the state correctional facility a copy of the indictment, order of conviction and the sentence and judgment entered thereon. As soon as possible after receipt of the copies the warden shall send a guard or guards to remove the convict to the state correctional facility. Unless a suspension of execution is ordered, the execution shall take place at the time and in the manner prescribed in the sentencing order. At the execution there may be present those officers, guards and assistants as the warden or Commissioner of Corrections considers appropriate. The warden or the commissioner, as the case may be, shall request the presence of the prosecuting attorney of the county wherein the conviction occurred, the clerk of the circuit court thereof, 12 respectable citizens, including a physician and representatives of the press as may be considered appropriate. The counsel of the convict, or any clergymen the convict may desire and any of the convict's relations may be permitted to attend.