Bill > HB727

This bill amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to add a new chapter that restricts the death penalty for individuals with severe mental illness. The key provisions include: 1. Defining "person with severe mental illness" as someone with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or bipolar disorder who has active psychotic symptoms that substantially impair their capacity to appreciate the nature, consequences, or wrongfulness of their conduct, or exercise rational judgment. 2. Prohibiting the death penalty for defendants who were persons with severe mental illness at the time of the capital offense. 3. Requiring defendants planning to raise the issue of severe mental illness to provide notice to the court and the state. 4. Allowing the court to appoint a disinterested mental health expert to examine the defendant and determine if they meet the definition of a person with severe mental illness. 5. Sentencing a defendant found to have severe mental illness at the time of the offense to life in prison without parole, rather than the death penalty. The bill applies to trials that commence on or after September 1, 2023, regardless of when the alleged offense occurred.