Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 1274 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to make extreme mental or emotional disturbance (EMED) an affirmative defense to murder based on a reasonable person standard.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney City and County of Honolulu, the Honolulu Police Department, the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney County of Maui, Maui County Police Department, and County of Hawaii Police Department. The Department of the Attorney General supports the measure and proposed amendments.

Your Committee finds that under existing law, a defendant charged need not raise EMED as a defense, and may not legitimately have EMED, yet the prosecution must still disprove that the defendant suffers from EMED. This is very confusing to jurors. Making EMED an affirmative defense shifts the burden to the defendant to prove the defendant suffers from EMED. The prosecution must then disprove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant suffered from EMED.

Pursuant to testimony received from the Attorney General, your Committee amended the bill by inserting the word "attempted" before the word "murder" on line 3, and before the word "manslaughter" on line 5.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1274, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1274, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.