HB 1092 -- Death Penalty Cases

Sponsor:  McGhee

This bill limits the amount of aid the Attorney General may give
prosecuting or circuit attorneys in death penalty cases by
specifying that the Attorney General or one of his or her
assistants may provide aid only if the Attorney General:

(1)  Establishes the Death Increment Fiscal Accountability
Committee to review all cases in which the Attorney General is
requested to provide assistance in seeking the death penalty;

(2)  Creates the Death Increment Trust Account to fund the trial
costs attributed to the Attorney General's Office for death
penalty cases;

(3)  Prepares a budget for the prosecution of any case in which
he or she is requested to seek the death penalty and submits the
budget to the committee; and

(4)  Makes a recommendation whether to seek the death penalty in
a given case based on the strength of the evidence of the
underlying offense, the strength of the statutory aggravating
factors in the case, the relative importance of those factors in
separating the case from homicide cases generally, the
information in mitigation available to the committee, the
personnel and budgetary needs of the Office of the Attorney
General and the State Public Defender System, and the ability of
the state to pay the additional costs associated with seeking the
death penalty as opposed to a sentence other than death.

If the committee recommends that the Attorney General, or his or
her assistant, assist in seeking the death penalty in a case in
St. Louis County or the City of St. Louis, the county or city
must pay into the account the budgeted cost of prosecuting the
case as a death penalty case in the court but will be entitled to
a refund of any unexpended funds it paid into the trust account
for the case.

Missouri House of Representatives
95th General Assembly, 1st Regular Session
Last Updated November 17, 2009 at 9:26 am