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PARRIS N. GLENDENING, Governor
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Ch. 288
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violation of § 139C of this article concerning destructive devices, kidnapping as
defined in §§ 337 and 338 of this article, or in the escape in the first degree or attempt
to escape in the first degree from the Patuxent Institution, any institution or facility
under the jurisdiction of the Division of Correction or the Division of Pretrial
Detention and Services, or from any jail or penal institution in any of the counties of
this State, shall be murder in the first degree.
413.
(d) In determining the sentence, the court or jury, as the case may be, shall
first consider whether, beyond a reasonable doubt, any of the following aggravating
circumstances exist:
(1) One or more persons committed the murder of a law enforcement
officer while in the performance of his duties;
(2) The defendant committed the murder at a time when he was confined
in any correctional institution;
(3) The defendant committed the murder in furtherance of an escape or
an attempt to escape from or evade the lawful custody, arrest, or detention of or by an
officer or guard of a correctional institution or by a law enforcement officer;
(4) The victim was taken or attempted to be taken in the course of a
kidnapping or abduction or an attempt to kidnap or abduct;
(5) The victim was a child abducted in violation of § 2 of this article;
(6) The defendant committed the murder pursuant to an agreement or
contract for remuneration or the promise of remuneration to commit the murder;
(7) The defendant engaged or employed another person to commit the
murder and the murder was committed pursuant to an agreement or contract for
remuneration or the promise of remuneration;
(8) At the time of the murder, the defendant was under sentence of death
or imprisonment for life;
(9) The defendant committed more than one offense of murder in the
first degree arising out of the same incident; or
(10) The defendant committed the murder while committing or
attempting to commit a carjacking, armed carjacking, robbery UNDER § 486, § 487, OR
§ 488 OR § 487 OF THIS ARTICLE, arson in the first degree, rape or sexual offense in the
first degree.
(g) If the court or jury finds, beyond a reasonable doubt, that one or more of
these aggravating circumstances exist, it shall then consider whether, based upon a
preponderance of the evidence, any of the following mitigating circumstances exist:
(1) The defendant has not previously (i) been found guilty of a crime of
violence; (ii) entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere to a charge of a crime of
violence; or (iii) had a judgment of probation on stay of entry of judgment entered on
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- 1681 -
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