Mississippi Code 1972 (2023) › Title 97 - CRIMES (§§ 97-1-1 — 97-47-9) › Chapter 17 - CRIMES AGAINST PROPERTY (§§ 97-17-1 — 97-17-207) › IN GENERAL (§§ 97-17-1 — 97-17-103) › Section 97-17-39 - Penalties for injuring, destroying or defacing certain cemetery property, public buildings, schools or churches, or property thereof

If any person, by any means whatever, shall willfully or mischievously injure or destroy any of the burial vaults, urns, memorials, vases, foundations, bases or other similar items in a cemetery, or injure or destroy any of the work, materials, or furniture of any courthouse or jail, or other public building, or schoolhouse or church, or deface any of the walls or other parts thereof, or shall write, or make any drawings or character, or do any other act, either on or in said building or the walls thereof, or shall deface or injure the trees, fences, pavements, or soil, on the grounds belonging thereto, or an ornamental or shade tree on any public road or street leading thereto, such person, upon conviction, for such offense, shall be punished as follows:
(a)
If the damage caused by the destruction or defacement of such property has a value of less than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), any person who is convicted of this offense may be fined not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) or be imprisoned in the county jail for not more than one (1) year, or both if the court finds substantial and compelling reasons why the offender cannot be safely and effectively supervised in the community, is not amenable to community-based treatment, or poses a significant risk to public safety. If such a finding is not made, the court shall suspend the sentence of imprisonment and impose a period of probation not exceeding one (1) year or a fine of not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or both. Any person convicted of a third or subsequent offense under this subsection where the value of the property is not less than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), shall be imprisoned in the Penitentiary for a term not exceeding three (3) years or fined an amount not exceeding Two Thousand Dollars ($2,000.00), or both.
(b)
If the damage caused by the destruction or defacement of such property has a value equal to or exceeding Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) or more but less than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), any person who is convicted of this offense shall be fined not more than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) or be imprisoned in the State Penitentiary for up to five (5) years, or both.
(c)
If the damage caused by the destruction or defacement of such property has a value of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) or more but less than Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00), any person who is convicted of this offense shall be fined not more than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) or be imprisoned in the Penitentiary for up to ten (10) years, or both.
(d)
If the damage caused by the destruction or defacement of such property has a value of Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00) or more, any person who is convicted of this offense shall be fined not more than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) or be imprisoned in the Penitentiary for up to twenty (20) years, or both.
Codes, 1880, § 2978; 1892, § 989; 1906, § 1065; Hemingway's 1917, § 793; 1930, § 809; 1942, § 2035; Laws, 1989, ch. 451, § 1, eff. 7/1/1989.
Amended by Laws, 2014, ch. 457, HB 585, 14, eff. 7/1/2014.