FIRST REGULAR SESSION
94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES ROBINSON (Sponsor), RUCKER, FALLERT, HODGES AND AULL (Co-sponsors).
Read 1st time January 9, 2007 and copies ordered printed.
D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To amend chapter 574, RSMo, by adding thereto three new sections relating to grave markers, with penalty provisions.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Chapter 574, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto three new sections, to be known as sections 574.095, 574.097, and 574.099, to read as follows:
574.095. 1. A person commits the crime of interference with a grave marker if such person knowingly destroys, mutilates, defaces, injures, or removes any marker, headstone, monument, gravestone, or other structure placed or designed or intended to mark a grave site or to memorialize the death of a person, or any portion or fragment thereof, without authorization of the owner of the burial lot, a lineal descendant of the deceased, or of the municipality, cemetery association, or person or authority responsible for the control or management of the cemetery.
2. Interference with a grave marker is a class C felony.
574.097. 1. A person commits the crime of receiving a stolen grave marker if such person receives, retains, or disposes of such grave marker, headstone, monument, gravestone, or other structure placed or designed or intended to mark a grave site or to memorialize the death of a person, or any portion or fragment thereof, knowing or believing that it has been removed in violation of section 574.095.
2. Evidence of the following is admissable in any criminal proceeding under this section to prove the requisite knowledge or belief of the alleged receiver:
(1) That he or she acquired the stolen grave marker for a consideration which he or she knew was far below its reasonable value; or
(2) That he or she obtained control over the stolen grave marker knowing the grave marker to have been stolen or under such circumstances as would reasonably induce a person to believe the grave marker was stolen.
3. Receiving a stolen grave marker is a felony for which the authorized punishment is a fine of not less than five thousand dollars and not more than ten thousand dollars.
574.099. 1. A person commits the crime of failing to report the crime of receiving a stolen grave marker if such person knows or believes that another person has violated the provisions of section 574.097 and fails to report that violation to a law enforcement officer.
2. Failing to report the crime of receiving a stolen grave marker is a class A misdemeanor.
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