Bill Text: MS HB286 | 2024 | Regular Session | Engrossed
Bill Title: Sexual Battery; remove statute of limitations when DNA evidence is discovered.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 4-0)
Status: (Failed) 2024-04-02 - Died In Committee [HB286 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2024-HB286-Engrossed.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2024 Regular Session
To: Judiciary B
By: Representatives Owen, McCarty, Waldo, McLean
House Bill 286
(As Passed the House)
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 99-1-5, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REMOVE THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS ON THE CERTAIN CRIMES OF SEXUAL BATTERY WHEN DNA TESTING PROVIDES ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 99-1-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
99-1-5. (1) (a) The passage of time shall never bar prosecution against any person for the offenses of murder, manslaughter, aggravated assault, aggravated domestic violence, kidnapping, arson, burglary, forgery, counterfeiting, robbery, larceny, rape, embezzlement, obtaining money or property under false pretenses or by fraud, felonious abuse or battery of a child as described in Section 97-5-39, touching or handling a child for lustful purposes as described in Section 97-5-23, sexual battery of a child as described in Section 97-3-95(1)(c), (d) or (2), sexual battery as described in Section 97-3-95(1)(a) or (b) when the suspect's identity is unknown at the time of the crime, but later discovered due to results of DNA testing of biological evidence, exploitation of children as described in Section 97-5-33, promoting prostitution under Section 97-29-51(2) when the person involved is a minor, or any human trafficking offense as described in Section 97-3-54.1(1)(a), (1)(b) or (1)(c), Section 97-3-54.2, or Section 97-3-54.3.
(b) A person shall not be prosecuted for felonious assistance-program fraud, as described in Section 97-19-71, or for felonious abuse of vulnerable persons, as described in Sections 43-47-18 and 43-47-19, unless the prosecution for the offense is commenced within five (5) years next after the commission thereof.
(c) A person shall not be prosecuted for larceny of timber as described in Section 97-17-59, unless the prosecution for the offense is commenced within six (6) years next after the commission thereof.
(d) The time limitation on prosecution for conspiracy, as described in Section 97-1-1, shall be the same as for the underlying offense for which the defendant is accused of conspiring to commit.
(e) A person shall not be prosecuted for bribery as defined in Section 97-11-11, unless the prosecution for the offense is commenced within five (5) years after the commission thereof.
(2) A person shall not be prosecuted for any other offense not listed in this section unless the prosecution for the offense is commenced within two (2) years next after the commission thereof.
(3) Nothing contained in this section shall bar any prosecution against any person who shall abscond or flee from justice, or shall absent himself from this state or out of the jurisdiction of the court, or so conduct himself that he cannot be found by the officers of the law, or that process cannot be served upon him.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2024.
