H1682 [Filed]

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2007

H D

HOUSE DRH60288-LB-345 (4/17)

Short Title: North Carolina No Place for Torture Act.		(Public)
Sponsors:	Representatives Jones and Luebke (Primary Sponsors).
Referred to:

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT to punish torture, kidnapping, and the enforced disappearance of persons.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1. Article 8 of Chapter 14 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:

"§ 14-34.9. Torture, kidnapping, and enforced disappearances.

(a) Whoever commits torture, kidnapping, or the enforced disappearance of persons or attempts to commit torture, kidnapping, or the enforced disappearance of persons shall be punished as a Class C felon.

(b) Whoever conspires to commit any of the acts prohibited in subsection (a) of this section or conspires to attempt to commit any of the acts prohibited in subsection (a) of this section, whether the act or attempt takes place inside or outside the State of North Carolina, shall be punished as a Class D felon if any part of the conspiracy is performed or formulated within the State of North Carolina. If death results to any person from conduct prohibited by this section, it shall be punished as a Class B felony.

(1) Committed the offense in the State of North Carolina;

(2) Committed an act in furtherance of the conspiracy within the State of North Carolina even though other conduct occurred outside of the State of North Carolina or part of the conspiracy was formulated outside of the State of North Carolina; or

(3) Entered into the conspiracy within the State of North Carolina even though part of the conspiracy was formulated outside of the State of North Carolina or conduct in furtherance of the conspiracy was performed outside of the State of North Carolina.

(d) For the purposes of this section:

(1) "Conspiracy" is as defined by common law and the law of North Carolina.

(2) "Enforced disappearance of persons" means the arrest, detention, or abduction of persons by, or with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of, a State or a political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge that deprivation of freedom or give information on the fate or whereabouts of those persons, with the intention of removing them from the protection of the law for a prolonged period of time.

(3) "Kidnapping" is defined by G.S. 14-39.

(4) "Official capacity" means acting at the instruction of, on behalf of, or with the authority of a governmental body.

(5) "Public official" means any person elected by the public, appointed or hired by a governmental body, or acting for or on the behalf of a governmental body.

(6) "Torture" means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for purposes such as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in, or incidental to lawful sanctions."

SECTION 2. G.S. 15A-622(h) reads as rewritten:

"(h) A written petition for convening of grand jury under this section may be filed by the district attorney, the district attorney's designated assistant, or a special prosecutor requested pursuant to G.S. 114-11.6, with the approval of a committee of at least three members of the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys, and with the concurrence of the Attorney General, with the Clerk of the North Carolina Supreme Court. The Chief Justice shall appoint a panel of three judges to determine whether to order the grand jury convened. A grand jury under this section may be convened if the three-judge panel determines that:

(1) The petition alleges the commission of or a conspiracy to commit a violation of G.S. 14-34.9, ~~90-95(h) or G.S.~~ 90-95(h), or 90-95.1, any part of which violation or conspiracy occurred in the county where the grand jury sits, and that persons named in the petition have knowledge related to the identity of the perpetrators of those crimes but will not divulge that knowledge voluntarily or that such persons request that they be allowed to testify before the grand jury; and

(2) The affidavit sets forth facts that establish probable cause to believe that the crimes specified in the petition have been committed and reasonable grounds to suspect that the persons named in the petition have knowledge related to the identity of the perpetrators of those crimes.

The affidavit shall be based upon personal knowledge or, if the source of the information and basis for the belief are stated, upon information and belief. The panel's order convening the grand jury as an investigative grand jury shall direct the grand jury to investigate the crimes and persons named in the petition, and shall be filed with the Clerk of the North Carolina Supreme Court. A grand jury so convened retains all powers, duties, and responsibilities of a grand jury under this Article. The contents of the petition and the affidavit shall not be disclosed. Upon receiving a petition under this subsection, the Chief Justice shall appoint a panel to determine whether the grand jury should be convened as an investigative grand jury.

A grand jury authorized by this subsection may be convened from an existing grand jury or grand juries authorized by subsection (b) of this section or may be convened as an additional grand jury to an existing grand jury or grand juries. Notwithstanding subsection (b) of this section, grand jurors impaneled pursuant to this subsection shall serve for a period of 12 months, and, if an additional grand jury is convened, 18 persons shall be selected to constitute that grand jury. At any time for cause shown, the presiding superior court judge may excuse a juror temporarily or permanently, and in the latter event the court may impanel another person in place of the juror excused."

SECTION 3. This act becomes effective July 1, 2007.