To amend sections 2903.01 and 2929.04 of the Revised Code to expand aggravated murder to also include purposely causing the death of a law enforcement officer or of a Department of Rehabilitation and Correction employee who is acting within the course and scope of the employee's duties and to enact a capital punishment aggravating circumstance that includes the killing in specified circumstances of a Department of Rehabilitation and Correction employee.

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

Sec. 2903.01. (A) No person shall purposely, and with prior calculation and design, cause the death of another or the unlawful termination of another's pregnancy.

(B) No person shall purposely cause the death of another or the unlawful termination of another's pregnancy while committing or attempting to commit, or while fleeing immediately after committing or attempting to commit kidnapping, rape, aggravated arson or arson, aggravated robbery or robbery, aggravated burglary or burglary, or escape.

(C) No person shall purposely cause the death of another who is under thirteen years of age at the time of the commission of the offense.

(D) NO PERSON SHALL PURPOSELY CAUSE THE DEATH OF EITHER OF THE FOLLOWING:

(1) A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER;

(2) AN EMPLOYEE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF REHABILITATION AND CORRECTION WHO IS ACTING WITHIN THE COURSE AND SCOPE OF THE EMPLOYEE'S DUTIES.

(E) Whoever violates this section is guilty of aggravated murder, and shall be punished as provided in section 2929.02 of the Revised Code.

(E)(F) No person shall be convicted of aggravated murder unless the person is specifically found to have intended to cause the death of another or, if the case involves an alleged violation of division (A) or (B) of this section, the unlawful termination of another's pregnancy. In no case shall a jury in an aggravated murder case be instructed in such a manner that it may believe that a person who commits or attempts to commit any offense listed in division (B) of this section is to be conclusively inferred, because the person engaged in a common design with others to commit the offense by force and violence or because the offense and the manner of its commission would be likely to produce death or the unlawful termination of another's pregnancy, to have intended to cause the death of any person who is killed or the unlawful termination of another's pregnancy during the commission of, attempt to commit, or flight from the commission of or attempt to commit, the offense. If a jury in an aggravated murder case is instructed that a person who commits or attempts to commit any offense listed in division (B) of this section may be inferred, because the offender engaged in a common design with others to commit the offense by force or violence or because the offense and the manner of its commission would be likely to produce death or the unlawful termination of another's pregnancy, to have intended to cause the death of any person who is killed or the unlawful termination of another's pregnancy during the commission of, attempt to commit, or flight from the commission of or attempt to commit the offense, the jury also shall be instructed that the inference is nonconclusive, that the inference may be considered in determining intent, that it is to consider all evidence introduced by the prosecution to indicate the person's intent and by the person to indicate the person's lack of intent in determining whether the person specifically intended to cause the death of the person killed or the unlawful termination of another's pregnancy, and that the prosecution must prove the specific intent of the person to have caused the death or the unlawful termination of another's pregnancy by proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

Sec. 2929.04. (A) Imposition of the death penalty for aggravated murder is precluded unless one or more of the following is specified in the indictment or count in the indictment pursuant to section 2941.14 of the Revised Code and proved beyond a reasonable doubt:

(1) The offense was the assassination of the president of the United States or a person in line of succession to the presidency, the governor or lieutenant governor of this state, the president-elect or vice president-elect of the United States, the governor-elect or lieutenant governor-elect of this state, or a candidate for any of the offices described in this division. For purposes of this division, a person is a candidate if the person has been nominated for election according to law, if the person has filed a petition or petitions according to law to have the person's name placed on the ballot in a primary or general election, or if the person campaigns as a write-in candidate in a primary or general election.

(2) The offense was committed for hire.

(3) The offense was committed for the purpose of escaping detection, apprehension, trial, or punishment for another offense committed by the offender.

(4) The offense was committed while the offender was a prisoner in a detention facility, as defined in section 2921.01 of the Revised Code.

(5) Prior to the offense at bar, the offender was convicted of an offense an essential element of which was the purposeful killing of or attempt to kill another, or the offense at bar was part of a course of conduct involving the purposeful killing of or attempt to kill two or more persons by the offender.

(6) The victim of the offense was a law enforcement officer, as defined in section 2911.01 of the Revised Code, whom the offender had reasonable cause to know or knew to be a law enforcement officer as so defined, and either the victim, at the time of the commission of the offense, was engaged in the victim's duties, or it was the offender's specific purpose to kill a law enforcement officer as so defined.

(7) The offense was committed while the offender was committing, attempting to commit, or fleeing immediately after committing or attempting to commit kidnapping, rape, aggravated arson, aggravated robbery, or aggravated burglary, and either the offender was the principal offender in the commission of the aggravated murder or, if not the principal offender, committed the aggravated murder with prior calculation and design.

(8) The victim of the aggravated murder was a witness to an offense who was purposely killed to prevent the victim's testimony in any criminal proceeding and the aggravated murder was not committed during the commission, attempted commission, or flight immediately after the commission or attempted commission of the offense to which the victim was a witness, or the victim of the aggravated murder was a witness to an offense and was purposely killed in retaliation for the victim's testimony in any criminal proceeding.

(9) The offender, in the commission of the offense, purposefully caused the death of another who was under thirteen years of age at the time of the commission of the offense, and either the offender was the principal offender in the commission of the offense or, if not the principal offender, committed the offense with prior calculation and design.

(10) THE VICTIM OF THE OFFENSE WAS AN EMPLOYEE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF REHABILITATION AND CORRECTION, AND EITHER OF THE FOLLOWING APPLIES:

(a) THE VICTIM, AT THE TIME OF THE COMMISSION OF THE OFFENSE, WAS ENGAGED IN THE VICTIM'S DUTIES AS AN EMPLOYEE OF THE DEPARTMENT.

(b) IT WAS THE OFFENDER'S SPECIFIC PURPOSE TO KILL THE VICTIM BECAUSE THE VICTIM WAS AN EMPLOYEE OF THE DEPARTMENT, OR IT WAS THE OFFENDER'S SPECIFIC PURPOSE TO KILL ANY EMPLOYEE OF THE DEPARTMENT.

(B) If one or more of the aggravating circumstances listed in division (A) of this section is specified in the indictment or count in the indictment and proved beyond a reasonable doubt, and if the offender did not raise the matter of age pursuant to section 2929.023 of the Revised Code or if the offender, after raising the matter of age, was found at trial to have been eighteen years of age or older at the time of the commission of the offense, the court, trial jury, or panel of three judges shall consider, and weigh against the aggravating circumstances proved beyond a reasonable doubt, the nature and circumstances of the offense, the history, character, and background of the offender, and all of the following factors:

(1) Whether the victim of the offense induced or facilitated it;

(2) Whether it is unlikely that the offense would have been committed, but for the fact that the offender was under duress, coercion, or strong provocation;

(3) Whether, at the time of committing the offense, the offender, because of a mental disease or defect, lacked substantial capacity to appreciate the criminality of the offender's conduct or to conform the offender's conduct to the requirements of the law;

(4) The youth of the offender;

(5) The offender's lack of a significant history of prior criminal convictions and delinquency adjudications;

(6) If the offender was a participant in the offense but not the principal offender, the degree of the offender's participation in the offense and the degree of the offender's participation in the acts that led to the death of the victim;

(7) Any other factors that are relevant to the issue of whether the offender should be sentenced to death.

(C) The defendant shall be given great latitude in the presentation of evidence of the factors listed in division (B) of this section and of any other factors in mitigation of the imposition of the sentence of death.

The existence of any of the mitigating factors listed in division (B) of this section does not preclude the imposition of a sentence of death on the offender but shall be weighed pursuant to divisions (D)(2) and (3) of section 2929.03 of the Revised Code by the trial court, trial jury, or the panel of three judges against the aggravating circumstances the offender was found guilty of committing.