Judiciary committee refines H.41 language on abuse of a dead human body; asks staff for revised draft

The Judiciary committee reviewed a strike-all amendment to H.41 on Jan. 30, a bill that would create a felony offense for abuse of a dead human body or its remains and revise existing Title 18 provisions.

Committee members and witnesses focused on three central items: what phrase should define the object of the offense (terms such as "corpse," "human body," and "dead human body" were discussed), how the statute should treat remains and cremated ashes, and the mental state and penalties attached to the base and aggravated offenses.

Pet Novogrowski of the Office of Legislative Council presented the draft and summary. Novogrowski said the strike-all amendment replaces the prior formulation to place most conduct in a proposed new Title 13 offense and to retain a separate Title 18 offense that would be a fine-only violation for unauthorized transport or removal. Novogrowski summarized the new subsection a as: "a person is guilty of abuse of a deceased dead human body or its remains if the person without legal authorization knowingly hides, burns, mutilates, disfigures, dismembers, or otherwise conceals or destroys a human body or its remains." He also described subsection b as the aggravated version when the…