HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3198        FILED ON: 1/14/2009

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1673

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Nine

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An Act relative to the punishment for the murder of a police officer..

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

Section 1.  Section 2 of chapter 265 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the second sentence the following sentence:-

A person who is guilty of murder in the first degree as the result of killing a police officer shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life without parole.

Section 2.  Section 2 of chapter 265 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the fourth sentence the following sentence:-

A person who is guilty of murder in the first degree as the result of killing a police officer shall not be allowed to have his sentence commuted therefrom by the governor and council under the provisions of section one hundred and fifty-two of said chapter one hundred and twenty-seven.

Section 3.  Section 133A of chapter 127 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding, following the words “the first degree,” in line 5, the following:- “and except prisoners serving a life sentence for murder in the second degree as the result of killing a police officer”

Section 4.  Section 133A of chapter 127 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the first sentence the following sentence:-

Any prisoner who is serving a sentence for life in a correctional institution of the commonwealth for the murder in the second degree as the result of killing a police officer shall be eligible for parole, and the parole board shall, within sixty days before the expiration of twenty-five years of such sentence, conduct a public hearing before the full membership unless a member of the board is determined to be unavailable as provided in this section.