R.C. § 2929.02 Murder Penalties

• Library: Ohio Statutes
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current with legislation from 2023 effective through December 7, 2023.
• Year: 2023
• Citation: R.C. § 2929.02

(A) Whoever is convicted of or pleads guilty to aggravated murder in violation of section 2903.01 of the Revised Code shall suffer death or be imprisoned for life, as determined pursuant to sections 2929.022, 2929.03, and 2929.04 of the Revised Code, except that no person who is not found to have been eighteen years of age or older at the time of the commission of the offense shall be imprisoned for life without parole, and that no person who raises the matter of age pursuant to section 2929.023 of the Revised Code and who is not found to have been eighteen years of age or older at the time of the commission of the offense and no person who raises the matter of the person's serious mental illness at the time of the alleged commission of the offense pursuant to section 2929.025 of the Revised Code and is found under that section to be ineligible for a sentence of death due to serious mental illness shall suffer death. In addition, the offender may be fined an amount fixed by the court, but not more than twenty-five thousand dollars.

(B)

(1) Except as otherwise provided in division (B)(2) or (3) of this section, whoever is convicted of or pleads guilty to murder in violation of section 2903.02 of the Revised Code shall be imprisoned for an indefinite term of fifteen years to life.

(2) Except as otherwise provided in division (B)(3) of this section, if a person is convicted of or pleads guilty to murder in violation of section 2903.02 of the Revised Code, the victim of the offense was less than thirteen years of age, and the offender also is convicted of or pleads guilty to a sexual motivation specification that was included in the indictment, count in the indictment, or information charging the offense, the court shall impose an indefinite prison term of thirty years to life pursuant to division (B)(3) of section 2971.03 of the Revised Code.

(3) Except as otherwise provided in this division, if a person is convicted of or pleads guilty to murder in violation of section 2903.02 of the Revised Code and also is convicted of or pleads guilty to a sexual motivation specification and a sexually violent predator specification that were included in the indictment, count in the indictment, or information that charged the murder, the court shall impose upon the offender a term of life imprisonment without parole that shall be served pursuant to section 2971.03 of the Revised Code. If the offender was under eighteen years of age at the time of the offense, the court shall impose an indefinite prison term of thirty years to life.