Minnesota Session Laws - 1987, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1987 

                        CHAPTER 176-H.F.No. 350 
           An act relating to crime; extending the crimes of 
          murder in the third degree and manslaughter in the 
          first degree to deaths caused by the sale or 
          distribution of controlled substances; making it a 
          felony to cause great bodily harm by selling or 
          distributing certain controlled substances; imposing 
          penalties; amending Minnesota Statutes 1986, sections 
          609.195; and 609.20; proposing coding for new law in 
          Minnesota Statutes, chapter 609. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 609.195, is 
amended to read: 
    609.195 [MURDER IN THE THIRD DEGREE.] 
    (a) Whoever, without intent to effect the death of any 
person, causes the death of another by perpetrating an act 
eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, 
without regard for human life, is guilty of murder in the third 
degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 25 
years. 
    (b) Whoever, without intent to cause death, proximately 
causes the death of a human being by, directly or indirectly, 
unlawfully selling, giving away, bartering, delivering, 
exchanging, distributing, or administering a controlled 
substance classified in schedule I or II, is guilty of murder in 
the third degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not 
more than 25 years or to payment of a fine of not more than 
$40,000, or both. 
    Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 609.20, is 
amended to read: 
    609.20 [MANSLAUGHTER IN THE FIRST DEGREE.] 
    Whoever does any of the following is guilty of manslaughter 
in the first degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not 
more than 15 years or to payment of a fine of not more than 
$30,000, or both: 
    (1) Intentionally causes the death of another person in the 
heat of passion provoked by such words or acts of another as 
would provoke a person of ordinary self-control under like 
circumstances; or 
    (2) Causes the death of another in committing or attempting 
to commit a misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor offense with such 
force and violence that death of or great bodily harm to any 
person was reasonably foreseeable, and murder in the first or 
second degree was not committed thereby; or 
    (3) Intentionally causes the death of another person 
because the actor is coerced by threats made by someone other 
than the actor's coconspirator and which cause the actor 
reasonably to believe that the act performed by the actor is the 
only means of preventing imminent death to the actor or another; 
or 
    (4) Proximately causes the death of another, without intent 
to cause death by, directly or indirectly, unlawfully selling, 
giving away, bartering, delivering, exchanging, distributing, or 
administering a controlled substance classified in schedule III, 
IV, or V. 
    Sec. 3.  [609.228] [GREAT BODILY HARM CAUSED BY 
DISTRIBUTION OF DRUGS.] 
    Whoever proximately causes great bodily harm by, directly 
or indirectly, unlawfully selling, giving away, bartering, 
delivering, exchanging, distributing, or administering a 
controlled substance classified in schedule I or II may be 
sentenced to imprisonment for not more than ten years or to 
payment of a fine of not more than $20,000, or both. 
    Sec. 4.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
    Sections 1 to 4 are effective August 1, 1987, and apply to 
crimes committed on or after that date. 
    Approved May 20, 1987