Why Rep. Bill Denny's attempted murder legislation keeps failing

For over a decade now, Rep. Bill Denny (R - Jackson) has been introducing legislation that would purportedly create the offense of attempted murder in Mississippi. His attempted murder bills have died every year, including this year, even though his party is in complete control of the Mississippi legislative process.

On its face, the bill seems to make sense. If someone sets out to murder someone and fails because their intended victim lives, that's attempted murder. And traditionally, attempted crimes carry a punishment similar to the completed crime. However, in modern Mississippi criminal practice such crimes are prosecuted as aggravated assaults rather than attempted murders. That might lead you to think that we just don't have attempted murder in our statutes, and that we should rectify the problem by passing legislation like Denny's.

You'd be wrong.