Originally published: . Volume 14, No. 4. Source pages: 5.
Rep. Selders has filed a bill which prohibits the death penalty from being imposed upon any person with a severe mental illness, HB 328. Present law prohibits the death penalty from being imposed upon any person with an intellectual disability and provides for definitions and procedures to be followed after a capital defendant claims to have a intellectual disability. HB 328 amends present law to also prohibit the death penalty from being imposed upon any person with a severe mental illness. Further provides that the procedures to be followed for a capital defendant who claims to have an intellectual disability shall also be applied to a capital defendant who claims to have a severe mental illness. The proposed law provides that a person has a severe mental illness if both of the following conditions are applicable: (1) Before a claim of severe mental illness is raised, the person has been diagnosed with one or more of the following conditions: (a) Schizophrenia or any other psychotic disorder. (b) Bipolar disorder. (c) Major depressive disorder. (d) Delusional disorder. (e) Post-traumatic stress disorder. (f) Traumatic brain injury. (2) At the time of the offense, the condition or conditions described in proposed law, despite not meeting the standard set forth in present law (R.S. 14:14) to establish a defense of insanity, significantly impaired the person's capacity to do any of the following: (a) Appreciate the nature, consequences, or wrongfulness of his conduct. (b) Exercise rational judgment in relation to his conduct. (c) Conform his conduct to the requirements of the law.
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