Public Chapter 139

SENATE BILL NO. 1471

By Haynes

Substituted for: House Bill No. 1617

By Hargrove, Boyer, McDaniel

AN ACT To amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 39-13-204, relative to sentencing procedure for capital offenses.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:

SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 39-13-204(e)(1), is amended by deleting the third sentence, "No distinction shall be made between mitigating circumstances as set forth in subsection (j) and those otherwise raised by the evidence which are specifically requested by either the state or the defense to be instructed to the jury." And substituting the following language at the end of subsection (e)(1): "However, a reviewing court shall not set aside a sentence of death or of imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole on the ground that the trial court did not specifically instruct the jury as to a requested mitigating factor that is not enumerated in subsection (j)."

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.