Amendment101st Congress
Amendment authorized capital punishment for ten additional federal offenses, including transporting explosives that results in death, murder by sending a bomb through the mail, death that results in the course of a bank robbery, and murder by federal prisoners under life sentences. It authorized the death penalty for homicide where there was the reckless disregard for human life. It also changed procedures for imposition of the federal death sentence and changed and repealed certain procedures concerning appeals of death sentences, including the use of habeas corpus petitions in Federal courts.
- Amendment Number
- 823
- Description
- Amendment authorized capital punishment for ten additional federal offenses, including transporting explosives that results in death, murder by sending a bomb through the mail, death that results in the course of a bank robbery, and murder by federal prisoners under life sentences. It authorized the death penalty for homicide where there was the reckless disregard for human life. It also changed procedures for imposition of the federal death sentence and changed and repealed certain procedures concerning appeals of death sentences, including the use of habeas corpus petitions in Federal courts.
- Purpose
- An amendment to authorize capital punishment for ten additional federal offenses, including transporting explosives that results in death, murder by sending bomb through the mail, death that results in the course of a bank robbery, and murder by federal prisoners under life sentence. The amendment also establishes procedures for imposing the federal death penalty in that the jury or judge must sentence the defendant to death if they find that one aggravating factor exists beyond a reasonable doubt, and either that it sufficiently outweighs any mitigating factors or that it is sufficient alone to justify the death sentence. The amendment allows the prosecutor to ask the jury to consider aggravating factors in addition to those specified in law, without the need for approval by the trial judge and without need for advance notification to the judge and defendant. Further, the substitute precludes anyone sentenced to death from challenging the sentence in federal habeas corpus proceedings based on ineffectiveness or incompetence of counsel at trial. It also repeals the provision of current law that requires the Federal Government to provide counsel free of charge to indigent prisoners challenging state death sentences through federal habeas corpus proceedings.
- Congress
- 101
- Type
- HAMDT
- Latest Action Date
- Oct 4, 1990
- Latest Action Text
- On agreeing to the Gekas amendment (A012) Agreed to by recorded vote: 271 - 159 (Roll no. 413).
- Latest Action Time
- 13:39:59
- Submitted Date
- Oct 4, 1990
- Chamber
- House of Representatives
- Update Date
- Jul 1, 2021