A comment on efforts to "create" attempted murder in Mississippi

I've heard several Mississippi politicos (generally Republican) complain that we don't have a crime entitled "attempted murder" in our state. In fact, some Mississippi legislators even try every year to create a code section that would "fix" the problem. (Just this year, Reps. Bill Denny, Tracy Arinder, and Jessica Upshaw tried to amend SB 2923 and authored HB 273 & HB 547.)

The gist of the efforts each year is to bifurcate our aggravated assault statute, which currently provides for a 20 year maximum penalty for an individual who either a) "attempts to cause serious bodily injury to another, or causes such injury purposely, knowingly or recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life" or b) "attempts to cause or purposely or knowingly causes bodily injury to another with a deadly weapon or other means likely to produce death or serious bodily harm." The attempted murder legislation cited above would make the "attempt to cause or purposely or knowingly cause bodily injury to another with a deadly weapon or other means likely to produce death or serious bodily harm" part the definition for attempted murder, and proscribe a mandatory sentence of 20 to life.

There are two substantial problems with legislation like this, described after the break.