_____________ bill NO. _____________

INTRODUCED BY _________________________________________________

By Request of the ****

A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: "AN ACT requiring an acknowledgement of suicide through law enforcement intervention in coroner's inquest cases; and AMENDING SECTION 46-4-205, MCA."

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:

Section 1. Section 46-4-205, MCA, is amended to read:

"46-4-205. Verdict of jury -- form. The jury may view the body, and the county attorney may require the jury to view the body. The jury shall review the death scene and may do so by videotape, photographs, or slide transparencies. After viewing the body and the death scene and hearing the testimony, the jury shall render its verdict, which must be by majority vote, and certify the verdict in writing signed by each juror. The verdict must set forth:

(1)        who the deceased person is;

(2)        when and where the deceased died;

(3)        if the deceased died by criminal means; and

(4)        if the deceased was killed or the deceased's death was occasioned by the act of another by criminal means, who committed the act, if known. If the jury finds that the death was not by criminal means, that fact must be stated on the verdict form.

(5)        if evidence presented at the inquest supports a conclusion that the deceased engaged police in a deadly force encounter as a method of suicide, the jury shall indicate on the form that the deceased died by suicide through law enforcement intervention."