Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Mississippi. Legal process When the prosecution seeks the death penalty, the sentence is decided by the jury and must be unanimous. If the jury recommends death, it is required to record what it considers the "aggravating circumstances" about the crime that led it to that decision. In case of a hung jury during the penalty phase of the trial, the judge issues a life sentence, even if only one juror opposed death (there is no retrial). The power of clemency belongs to the Governor of Mississippi. Capital crimes The following crimes are punishable by death in Mississippi: Treason. Murder with one of the following aggravating factors: It was committed by a person under sentence of imprisonment. The defendant was previously convicted of another capital offense or of a felony involving the use or threat of violence to the person. The defendant knowingly created a great risk of death to many persons. It was committed while the defendant was engaged, or was an accomplice, in the commission of, or an attempt to commit, or flight after committing or attempting to commit, any robbery, rape, arson, burglary, kidnapping, aircraft piracy, sexual battery, unnatural intercourse with any child under the age of 12, or nonconsensual unnatural intercourse with mankind, or felonious abuse or battery of a child, or the unlawful use or detonation of a bomb or explosive device. It was committed for the purpose of avoiding or preventing a lawful arrest or effecting an escape from custody. It was committed for pecuniary gain. It was committed to disrupt or hinder the lawful exercise of any governmental function or the enforcement of laws. It was committed to influence the policy of a governmental entity by intimidation or coercion, or to affect the conduct of a governmental entity by mass destruction or assassination. It was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel. It was committed to intimidate or coerce a civilian population. The laws on the books in Mississippi also provide the death penalty for aircraft hijacking under Title 97, Chapter 25, Section 55 of the Mississippi Code, but in 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Kennedy v. Louisiana, that the death penalty is unconstitutional when applied to non-homicidal crimes against the person. However, the ruling meant that crimes "against the state" such as treason or terrorism would not likely be unconstitutional. Therefore, the