A bill to amend the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure to provide for post-conviction proceedings in certain criminal cases.

Summary

Amends the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to provide that a sentence of death may not be imposed for violation of a Federal law unless the standards and procedures set forth in this Act have been followed. Requires a separate hearing before a jury on the question of sentencing whenever a person is convicted of an offense for which death is a possible penalty. Allows a jury to recommend a sentence of death only if every member of the jury (1) finds beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant intended that the life of any person be taken and that any person did die as a direct result of the offense; (2) finds that at least one of nine specified aggravating circumstances exists; and (3) determines that any aggravating circumstances found to exist, taken in conjunction with all the evidence, outweigh any of ten specified mitigating circumstances found to exist. Allows a judge to nevertheless refuse to impose the death sentence. Amends the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure to set forth standards for review of death sentences.

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Documents

1 official file

• Introduced in House

  summary · EN · 29 June 1978

  Open at official source

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