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Committee endorses measure to include suicides caused by abuse in child‑homicide statute
Summary
The committee favorably recommended the second substitute to HB 138, which clarifies that a child's death by suicide qualifies under the abuse‑related homicide statute when the suicide is the direct and proximate result of abuse; law enforcement testified that current wording leaves prosecutorial gaps.
The Senate Judiciary Committee on March 4 favorably recommended second substitute HB 138, which would make a child’s suicide a qualifying death under the state’s child‑abuse homicide provisions when the suicide is a direct and proximate result of abuse.
A sponsor introduced the measure and called Detective Brent Jackson to testify. Detective Jackson (Tremont and Garland Police Department) described a pending investigation involving a 10‑year‑old who died by suicide; he told the committee investigators found ‘‘extreme amounts of child…
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