Mississippi statutes concerning murder substantially altered

There was a lot of activity this session in the Mississippi Legislature regarding our criminal statutes. One of the interesting bills to make it through the process was SB2377, which lessened the penalty for depraved heart murder.

Starting July 1, Mississippi juries will begin deciding between "first-degree" murder and "second-degree" murder. Previously, these crimes were known as "deliberate design" murder and "depraved heart" murder, respectively. The difference is much more than cosmetic, as the penalty for first-degree (née deliberate design) murder remains life without parole, while the penalty for second-degree murder is life if fixed by the jury, or 20-40 years if set by the judge.

To understand why this legislation is important, you first need to understand the difference between the two types of murder. Depraved heart murder is defined as a killing "when done in the commission of an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved heart, regardless of human life, although without any premeditated design to effect the death of any particular individual." Deliberate design murder is defined as a killing "done with deliberate design to effect the death of the person killed, or of any human being."

The difference, in short, is one of intent, that all important element of criminal law. Depraved heart murder has long been considered a "manslaughter plus" that was something in between deliberate design murder and manslaughter. Unfortunately, the penalties for depraved heart murder and deliberate design murder have been exactly the same for quite some time now: life in the penitentiary without the possibility of parole. This will now change on July 1, 2013.

The effect will be to allow for much more plea bargaining in homicide cases.  Prior to this law, the outcomes for a murder trial were essentially 1) guilty of murder, 2) guilty of manslaughter (if the evidence warrants the instruction), or 3) not guilty of anything.  The maximum penalty for manslaughter is 20 years with the possibility of parole, leaving a huge gap between murder and manslaughter.  That gap in possible penalty made prosecutors very reluctant to offer plea bargains in homicide cases.  Now that criminal law practitioners have something to fill that gap, expect to see new attempts to resolve the "hard" cases.

As a result, having skilled and experienced trial counsel that is up to speed on the new law is all that much more important.

Frontline focuses on forensic evidence tonight

I'll be on PBS's Frontline tonight in an episode entitled "The Real CSI."  The show will investigate problems with the science behind forensic evidence and how it is used in the courtroom.  I was interviewed for the program, and appear towards the end of the preview below.

Those of you who know me know that I've spent a good portion of my legal career trying to clean up Mississippi's death investigation system. As I said in my interview with Frontline, getting forensic evidence right is vitally important for two reasons. First, it prevents our society from putting innocent people in jail. And that's important when one of the foundational principles of our criminal justice system is Blackstone's statement that it is "better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer." (This principle is even espoused as long ago as Genesis 18, in which God says he would spare the entire city of Sodom if ten righteous people can be found within it.)

The second reason getting forensics right is that when we do it wrong, killers remain free amongst us to strike again. Like Justin Albert Johnson.

Anyway, here's the trailer for tonight's episode of Frontline on PBS. You can watch it at 10 pm EST/9 pm CST.