BATON ROUGE — The State Senate unanimously voted to pass an amended bill that would expand the definition of first-degree murder, effectively expanding the list of those eligible for the death penalty, which the author of the amendment says is in direct response to the fatal mass shooting at the Mall of Louisiana.

Amendments made to HB 102 expand the definition of first-degree murder to be murder committed while the offender is released on bail, on probation or under parole supervision, as well as when a firearm is used to commit the murder when the offender is prohibited by law from possessing a firearm.

Sen. Alan Seabaugh, who authored the amendment to State Rep. Jeff Wiley's bill, also added the provision that first-degree murder occurs when an offender "has specific intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm upon a victim who is in a public place and the offender knowingly creates a risk of death or great bodily harm to three or more persons."

According to the current Louisiana Statute RS 14:30, it is already considered first-degree murder when someone "has a specific intent to kill or inflict great bodily harm and the offender has previously acted with a specific intent to kill or inflict great bodily harm that resulted in the killing of one or more persons," with the proposed change to the law adding the public place distinction.

Seabaugh directly cited the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Martha Odom at the Mall of Louisiana on April 23, a shooting that also left five people injured, as the impetus behind his amendment.

Markel Lee, 17, was arrested following the shooting. According to Seabaugh, under the revised HB 102, Lee would be charged with first-degree murder. 

"It's saying if you point a firearm into a crowd of people and pull the trigger, that should constitute specific intent to kill, regardless of who you actually hit," Seabaugh said on the Senate floor on Tuesday. 

The Republican senator who represents Many said that, until now, this was not codified into law by statute, but rather used to determine first-degree murder charges via case law interpretation. 

"It's putting that in the code," Seabaugh said.

HB 102, in its original form, expanded the definition of first-degree murder to include murder committed while someone is also in the process of or attempting to commit cruelty to the elderly and persons with infirmities.