Central Mississippi residents Gunner Palmer and Zeb Hughes went missing while duck hunting in a personal boat on the Mississippi River near Port Gibson, Miss., in December 2020. Up the river, searchers found the capsized boat with a hole torn in it, but never recovered the teenagers’ bodies after years of looking.
Because Palmer and Hughes’ disappearances occurred less than seven years ago, though, their families still have not been able to obtain death certificates under state law.
Zeb Hughes, left, and Gunner Palmer, right, went missing on the Mississippi River during a duck-hunting trip near Port Gibson, Miss., in December 2020. Facebook
That could change with House Bill 80; the Mississippi Registrar of Vital Statistics could issue a death certificate after two years for a person who underwent a “catastrophic event” where there is “sworn testimony of persons with firsthand knowledge of the event” that determines the person died due to life-threatening circumstances.
“This bill is about closure. It gives Mississippi families the ability to begin healing even while hope remains,” Rep. Rodney Hall, R-Southaven, said on the House floor on Feb. 15.
Click above to read House Bill 80.
Mississippi Code 13-1-23 says seven years must pass after a person has been lost at sea or missing before the State could presume the person legally dead. H.B. 80 would change the code to say no less than two years may pass before the registrar can issue a death certificate.
Hall cosponsored the bill with Reps. Becky Currie, R-Brookhaven, and Dana McLean, R-Columbus.
The House passed H.B. 80 unanimously on Feb. 15. It heads to the Senate where lawmakers will decide whether to take it up, amend it or pass it as written. If Senators pass the bill, it goes to Gov. Tate Reeves’ desk for his signature if he decides to sign it into law.
Amend Statute of Limitations Law
Prosecutors could pursue sexual-battery charges based on new evidence with no statute of limitations under a new bill the Mississippi House passed last week.
If a recent DNA test identifies a suspect in an older sexual-battery case, House
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