Tag Archives: burglary

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Capital murder is defined in Mississippi Code Ann 97-3-19  is defined as the killing of a human being without the authority of law by any means or in any manner shall be capital murder in the following cases:

(a) Murder which is perpetrated by killing a peace officer or fireman while such officer or fireman is acting in his official capacity or by reason of an act performed in his official capacity, and with knowledge that the victim was a peace officer or fireman. For purposes of this paragraph, the term “peace officer” means any state or federal law enforcement officer, including, but not limited to, a federal park ranger, the sheriff of or police officer of a city or town, a conservation officer, a parole officer, a judge, senior status judge, special judge, district attorney, legal assistant to a district attorney, county prosecuting attorney or any other court official, an agent of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division of the Department of Revenue, an agent of the Bureau of Narcotics, personnel of the Mississippi Highway Patrol, and the employees of the Department of Corrections who are designated as peace officers by the Commissioner of Corrections pursuant to Section 47-5-54 , and the superintendent and his deputies, guards, officers and other employees of the Mississippi State Penitentiary;
(b) Murder which is perpetrated by a person who is under sentence of life imprisonment;
(c) Murder which is perpetrated by use or detonation of a bomb or explosive device;
(d) Murder which is perpetrated by any person who has been offered or has received anything of value for committing the murder, and all parties to such a murder, are guilty as principals;
(e) When done with or without any design to effect death, by any person engaged in the commission of the crime of rape, burglary, kidnapping, arson, robbery, sexual battery, unnatural intercourse with any child under the age of twelve (12), or nonconsensual unnatural intercourse with mankind, or in any attempt to commit such felonies;
(f) When done with or without any design to effect death, by any person engaged in the commission of the crime of felonious abuse and/or battery of a child in violation of subsection (2) of Section 97-5-39 , or in any attempt to commit such felony;
(g) Murder which is perpetrated on educational property as defined in Section 97-37-17 ;
(h) Murder which is perpetrated by the killing of any elected official of a county, municipal, state or federal government with knowledge that the victim was such public official.

Many capital murder cases involve the crimes noted in paragraph (e) above.  If you committed murder during the course of any of those crimes, you may be charged with capital murder.  In other words, if a person kills another during the course of a house burglary, (even without the intent to kill), capital murder charges will be filed.  In Mississippi courts, those found guilty of capital murder may be sentenced to the death penalty, life imprisonment without parole, or to life imprisonment with the opportunity for parole. 

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Mississippi law defines burglary as breaking and entering into any structure with the intent to commit a crime therein.

To be convicted of burglary, two elements of the crime must be proved beyond a doubt (or pled guilty to by the defendant). In other words, the State must prove that the defendant actually entered a structure, and entered with the intent to commit a crime in that structure.

The first element of the crime of burglary—entering—requires that you actually enter into a structure without permission to do so. Illegal entry also includes being lawfully present in a structure, but breaking or entering through an inner door and into a room that you have no permission to enter. This would include, for example, lawfully being in a shop but sneaking into the storeroom when the clerk is not watching.

The second element of burglary relates to the defendant’s state of mind at the time of entry into the building. To be convicted of burglary, the defendant must have first decided to commit a crime, and then entered the building for that purpose.

Using the example above regarding entry of a storeroom without permission, if the intent upon entry was to commit a crime, such as stealing stock from the room, you have satisfied the intent element, and have burglarized the shop owner’s private portion of the store.

The intended crime does not have to be successful or completed; entering with a criminal intent satisfies the two elements of burglary, and may lead to a conviction.