HB 1764 -- Anti-Terrorism

Co-Sponsors:  Dempsey, Crowell

This bill establishes the Anti-Terrorism Act. It creates crimes
related to terrorism and makes various revisions to sections
dealing with criminal procedure.

MAKING A TERRORISTIC THREAT

The bill creates the crime of making a terroristic threat in the
first and second degree.  A terroristic threat in the first
degree is defined as knowingly threatening to commit or cause the
commission of a terrorist act and causing a reasonable
expectation or fear of the imminent commission of a terrorist act
with the intent to intimidate or coerce civilians.  The
punishment is a felony with imprisonment for nine to 40 years.
In addition, a person convicted of a terroristic threat in the
first degree must pay all expenses incurred by any governmental
unit responding to a terroristic threat in the first degree or
for any cleanup caused by any terroristic act in the first
degree.

A terroristic threat in the second degree is defined as knowingly
communicating a threat to commit a felony, knowingly making a
false report concerning the commission of a felony, or knowingly
making a false report concerning the occurrence of a catastrophe
to frighten or disturb 10 or more people, to cause or disregard
the risk of causing the evacuation or closure of any building,
inhabitable structure, place of assembly, or facility of
transportation.  The penalty is a class C or class D felony.

SOLICITATING MATERIAL SUPPORT FOR TERRORISM

The crime of soliciting material support for terrorism is defined
as knowingly raising, soliciting, or collecting material support
or resources knowing that they are to be used to plan, prepare,
carry out, or avoid apprehension for committing terrorism.  The
punishment is a felony with imprisonment for nine to 40 years.
In addition, a person convicted of soliciting material support
for terrorism must pay all expenses incurred by any governmental
unit responding to this crime or for any cleanup caused by the
commission of this crime.

PROVIDING MATERIAL SUPPORT FOR TERRORISM

The crime of providing material support for terrorism is defined
as knowingly providing material support or resources knowing that
they are to be used to plan, prepare, carry out, facilitate, or
avoid apprehension for committing terrorism.  The punishment is a
felony with imprisonment for nine to 40 years.  In addition, a
person convicted of providing material support for terrorism must
pay all expenses incurred by any governmental unit responding to
this crime or for any cleanup caused by the commission of this
crime.

CRIME OF TERRORISM

The crime of terrorism is defined as knowingly committing an act
of terrorism inside the state, or that has an effect in this
state, with the intent to intimidate or coerce a significant
portion of the civilian population.  The punishment is a felony
with imprisonment for 10 to 30 years.  However, if the terrorism
results in the death of one or more people, the punishment is
death or life imprisonment with no parole.  In addition, a person
convicted of terrorism must pay all expenses incurred by any
governmental unit responding to a crime of terrorism or for any
cleanup caused by the crime.

CRIME OF HINDERING PROSECUTION

The crime of hindering prosecution in the first degree applies
only to terrorism crimes and is expanded to include suppressing
physical evidence that might aid in the discovery or apprehension
of the person suspected of terrorism, aiding the suspect to
protect or profit from the crime, or providing services or
assistance to the suspect.  The punishment is a felony with
imprisonment for 20 to 30 years; however, if the conduct of the
other person resulted in a death, the punishment is life without
parole.

The crime of hindering prosecution in the second degree is
defined as assistance given to any person for the purpose of
preventing the apprehension, prosecution, conviction, or
punishment of another for conduct constituting any crime except
for terrorism.  The punishment is a class A misdemeanor; however,
if the other person's conduct constitutes a felony, the
punishment is a class D felony.

SEARCH WARRANTS

The bill specifies that existing search warrant procedures are
for situations when written applications for a search warrant are
needed and adds a procedure for obtaining a search warrant based
upon oral testimony when the offense involves terrorism.  This
provision will be inoperative on or after January 1, 2005.

FORFEITURE PROVISIONS

The bill contains forfeiture provisions for money or property
acquired in connection with a terrorism offense.  A suspected
terrorist may be forced to forfeit money or property following a
hearing to determine whether the money or property is subject to
forfeiture.  The bill specifies the procedures to be used during
the hearing process.

CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

The bill requires that appeals for proceedings involving
terrorism charges go directly to the Missouri Supreme Court,
removes the statute of limitations for charges involving
terrorist activities, and prevents any person incarcerated under
terrorism charges from receiving good time credit.  The bill also
includes terrorism in the charging, trial, punishment, and
appellate review procedures as an offense against the person,
specifies where persons accused of terrorism must be prosecuted,
and specifies how homicidal terrorism counts may be charged,
tried, joined, and punished.

The bill adds terrorism to sections dealing with discovery,
waiver of a jury trial, first degree murder trial procedures, and
evidence in death penalty cases.

The bill specifies statutory aggravating circumstances and
statutory mitigating circumstances for cases involving terrorism
resulting in one or more deaths and requires that jury
instructions be given regarding these statutory aggravating
circumstances and statutory mitigating circumstances.  The bill
also requires the Supreme Court to review any finding of
statutory aggravating circumstances for a terrorism offense upon
appeal of a death penalty case.

MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

The bill allows wire communications to be intercepted and allows
wiretaps to be obtained on persons suspected of terrorist
activities.  Also, any person convicted of terrorism or
soliciting or providing material support for terrorism must have
a blood or other biological sample collected for DNA profiling.

The bill has an emergency clause.

Missouri House of Representatives
Last Updated October 11, 2002 at 9:02 am