State law enforcement officials yesterday unveiled a group of proposed laws, including a measure that would prevent some violent criminals from avoiding a murder charge.

The proposed law would not allow those who cause serious injury that results in a fatality to later claim they did not intend to kill anyone, just hurt them badly.

To that end, the bill would amend the offense of second-degree murder to include acts "committed with the intent to cause serious bodily injury to another person, or create the strong probability of causing death or serious bodily injury to another person, when those acts result in death."

In a news conference to announce the package of bills, Honolulu city prosecutor Peter Carlisle said: "For decades, Hawai'i has had a weak murder statute. What we are now going to do is focus specifically on what the defendant does rather than what the defendant says."

He added, "If you're doing something we all know has the probability to cause death or serious bodily injury, you'll be tried for murder."

The proposed penalties are part of a package of six bills and one resolution that will be sent to the Legislature by the Hawai'i Law Enforcement Coalition, which consists of the four county police chiefs, four county prosecutors, the U.S. attorney and the state attorney general.

In addition to the murder statute amendment, the coalition will submit bills proposing: