HB262 Alabama 2013 Session

Updated Jul 24, 2021

Summary

Primary Sponsor: Chris EnglandRepresentative
Democrat
Co-Sponsor: Bill Poole
Session: Regular Session 2013
Title: Capital offenses, defendant's guilty plea, state to prove guilt only when death penalty to be imposed, guilty plea to waive all non-jurisdictional defects in cases where death penalty or life without parole to be imposed, Sec. 13A-5-42 am'd.
Description: Under existing law, a defendant who is indicted for a capital offense may plead guilty, but the state must in any event prove to a jury the defendant's guilt of the capital offense beyond a reasonable doubt.
Under existing law, a guilty plea to a capital offense has the effect of waiving all non-jurisdictional defects in the proceeding resulting in the conviction except the sufficiency of the evidence.
This bill would limit the state's existing requirement of proving a defendant's guilt, notwithstanding the defendant's guilty plea, to cases in which the death penalty is to be imposed.
This bill would provide that a guilty plea to a capital offense has the effect of waiving all non-jurisdictional defects in the proceeding resulting in the conviction only in cases where either the death penalty or life without the possibility of parole is to be imposed.
Subjects: Crimes and Offenses