MARVIN MANDEL, Governor                             1603

Approved May 17, 1976.

CHAPTER 603

(Senate Bill 720)

AN ACT concerning

Indictments for Murder

FOR the purpose of altering the form of indictment for
certain crimes; giving the Act a prospective effect;
and making this Act effective only upon the passage
of a certain bill.

BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments,

Article 27 — Crimes and Punishments

Section 616(b)

Annotated Code of Maryland

(1971 Replacement Volume and 1975 Supplement)

SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
MARYLAND, That Section 616(b) of Article 27 - Crimes and
Punishments, of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1971
Replacement Volume and 1975 Supplement) be and it is
hereby repealed and reenacted, with amendments, to read
as follows:

Article 27 — Crimes and Punishments

616.

(b) In any indictment for murder in which the State
seeks the imposition of the death penalty, the indictment
shall set forth a concise and definite statement of the
offense. This portion of the indictment shall be a
separate charge and may not be a part of any other count
or charge. It is sufficient to use a form substantially
as follows:

"That A.B. on the ..... day of..... nineteen

hundred and ..... at the county aforesaid, feloniously,
wilfully and of deliberately premeditated malice
aforethought, did murder CD. against the peace,
government and dignity of the State; that he is the
person who actually committed an act which proximately
caused the victim's death; that at the time of the
commission of the act, he was 18 years of age or older;
and that the murder was committed under the following
circumstances:

(Strike if not applicable)