A bill

to amend article 1, chapter 3, title 16 of the South Carolina Code of Laws, RELATING TO HOMICIDE, BY ADDING SECTION 16-3-80, TO CREATE THE OFFENSE OF DRUG-INDUCED HOMICIDE, TO PROVIDE A PENALTY FOR A VIOLATION, and to prohibit an affirmative defense; and to amend Section 16-1-10(D), relating to A LIST OF EXCEPTIONS FOR FELONIES AND MISDEMEANORS, SO AS TO ADD DRUG-INDUCED HOMICIDE.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1.  Article 1, Chapter 3, Title 16 of the S.C. Code is amended by adding:

    Section 16-3-80. (A) A person who unlawfully delivers a controlled substance to another person, in violation of the provisions of Section 44-53-370 or 44-53-375, if the proximate cause of the death of any other person is the injection, inhalation, absorption, or ingestion of any amount of the controlled substance, commits the felony offense of drug-induced homicide.

    (B) A person convicted of a drug-induced homicide pursuant to the provisions of this section must be imprisoned not more than thirty years but not less than fifteen years.

    (C) The person may be prosecuted in any jurisdiction within the state where any act in furtherance of the violation occurs.

    (D) It is not a defense pursuant to this section that a decedent contributed to his own death by his purposeful, knowing, reckless, or negligent injection, inhalation, absorption, or ingestion of the controlled substance or by his consenting to the administration of the controlled substance by another person.

SECTION 2.  Section 16-1-10(D) of the S.C. Code is amended by adding a new offense to read:

SECTION 3.  This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

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