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| 2 | 2 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1696 FILED ON: 1/15/2025 |
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| 3 | 3 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1760 |
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| 4 | 4 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 5 | 5 | | _________________ |
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| 6 | 6 | | PRESENTED BY: |
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| 7 | 7 | | Russell E. Holmes |
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| 8 | 8 | | _________________ |
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| 9 | 9 | | To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General |
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| 10 | 10 | | Court assembled: |
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| 11 | 11 | | The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill: |
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| 12 | 12 | | An Act to provide equitable sentencing for felony murder. |
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| 13 | 13 | | _______________ |
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| 14 | 14 | | PETITION OF: |
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| 15 | 15 | | NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Russell E. Holmes6th Suffolk1/15/2025 1 of 2 |
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| 16 | 16 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1696 FILED ON: 1/15/2025 |
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| 17 | 17 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1760 |
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| 18 | 18 | | By Representative Holmes of Boston, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 1760) of |
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| 19 | 19 | | Russell E. Holmes relative to sentencing for felony murder. The Judiciary. |
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| 20 | 20 | | [SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION |
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| 21 | 21 | | SEE HOUSE, NO. 3945 OF 2023-2024.] |
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| 22 | 22 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 23 | 23 | | _______________ |
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| 24 | 24 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court |
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| 25 | 25 | | (2025-2026) |
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| 26 | 26 | | _______________ |
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| 27 | 27 | | An Act to provide equitable sentencing for felony murder. |
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| 28 | 28 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority |
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| 29 | 29 | | of the same, as follows: |
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| 30 | 30 | | 1 SECTION 1. Chapter 265 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out section |
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| 31 | 31 | | 21 and inserting in place thereof the following section:- |
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| 32 | 32 | | 3 Section 1. (a) Murder committed with deliberately premeditated malice aforethought, or |
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| 33 | 33 | | 4with extreme atrocity or cruelty is murder in the first degree. Murder which does not appear to be |
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| 34 | 34 | | 5in the first degree is murder in the second degree. Petit treason shall be prosecuted and punished |
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| 35 | 35 | | 6as murder. The degree of murder shall be found by the jury. |
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| 36 | 36 | | 7 (b) Whenever a death occurs in the commission or attempted commission of a crime |
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| 37 | 37 | | 8punishable with death or imprisonment for life, unless there is a showing of deliberately |
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| 38 | 38 | | 9premeditated malice aforethought, extreme atrocity or cruelty, whoever is found to have 2 of 2 |
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| 39 | 39 | | 10committed or attempted to commit such crime shall be punished by imprisonment in the state |
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| 40 | 40 | | 11prison for a term of no less than 15 years nor more than 25 years to life. |
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| 41 | 41 | | 12 SECTION 2. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, subsection (b) of section 1 |
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| 42 | 42 | | 13shall apply to any person charged or convicted with murder in the first degree prior to, on or after |
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| 43 | 43 | | 14the effective date of this act. |
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