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- Subject Index: Since 1995
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1995 SESSION
HB 1806 Capital sentencing.
Introduced by: Phillip A. Hamilton | all patrons ... notes | add to my profiles
SUMMARY:
Capital sentencing. Permits the sentencing jury in a capital case to hear evidence of the impact the crime had upon the victim's family. This codifies the holding in Payne v. Tennessee, 111 S.Ct. 2597 (1991), which overturned prior U.S. Supreme Court rulings in Booth v. Maryland, 482 U.S. 496 (1987) and South Carolina v. Gathers, 490 U.S. 805 (1989). Booth and Gathers had held that victim impact evidence and prosecutor comment upon it during a capital sentencing proceeding created an unacceptably high risk that a death sentence would be imposed in an arbitrary and capricious manner (an Eighth Amendment violation).
FULL TEXT
HISTORY
- 01/19/95 House: Presented & ordered printed LD1328264
- 01/19/95 House: Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
- 01/25/95 House: Assigned to C. J. sub-committee: 1
- 02/08/95 House: No action taken by Courts of Justice by voice vote