BILL NUMBER: AB 1516	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  JULY 16, 2009
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 29, 2009
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 20, 2009

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Lieu

                        FEBRUARY 27, 2009

   An act to amend Section 1054.3 of the Penal Code, relating to
criminal procedure.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1516, as amended, Lieu. Criminal procedure: discovery.
   Existing law provides that no discovery shall occur in criminal
cases except as provided by statute or as mandated by the
Constitution of the United States. Under existing law, a defendant
and his or her attorney are required to disclose to the prosecuting
attorney any reports or statements of experts made in connection with
the case, including the results of physical or mental examinations,
scientific tests, experiments, or comparisons which the defendant
intends to offer in evidence at the trial.
   This bill would  require   allow  the
court to order a defendant in a criminal action or a minor in a
juvenile delinquency proceeding to submit to examination by a
prosecution-retained mental health expert whenever a defendant or
minor, as specified, places in issue his or her mental state at any
phase of the criminal action or juvenile proceeding through the
proposed testimony of any mental health expert. The bill would
require the prosecuting attorney to submit a list of the tests he or
she proposes to have a prosecution-retained expert conduct on the
defendant or minor and would require the court, upon the request of
the defendant or minor, to hold a hearing to consider any objections
to the proposed tests. The bill would require the court to make a
threshold determination  before ordering the defendant to submit
to the examination  that the proposed tests bear some reasonable
relation to the mental state placed in issue by the defendant or
minor. The bill would specify that its purpose is to respond to
Verdin v. Superior Court (2008) 43 Cal.4th 1096, as specified.
   This bill would amend Proposition 115, an initiative statute
adopted by the voters at the June 5, 1990, statewide primary
election, which provides that its provisions may be amended by the
Legislature by a 2/3 vote of the membership of each house.
   Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated
local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 1054.3 of the Penal Code is amended to read:
   1054.3.  (a) The defendant and his or her attorney shall disclose
to the prosecuting attorney:
   (1) The names and addresses of persons, other than the defendant,
he or she intends to call as witnesses at trial, together with any
relevant written or recorded statements of those persons, or reports
of the statements of those persons, including any reports or
statements of experts made in connection with the case, and including
the results of physical or mental examinations, scientific tests,
experiments, or comparisons which the defendant intends to offer in
evidence at the trial.
   (2) Any real evidence which the defendant intends to offer in
evidence at the trial.
   (b) (1) Unless otherwise specifically addressed by an existing
provision of law, whenever a defendant in a criminal action or a
minor in a juvenile proceeding brought pursuant to a petition
alleging the juvenile to be within Section 602 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code places in issue his or her mental state at any
phase of the criminal action or juvenile proceeding through the
proposed testimony of any mental health expert, upon timely request
by the prosecution, the court  shall   may 
order that the defendant or juvenile submit to examination by a
prosecution-retained mental health expert.
   (A) The prosecution shall bear the cost of any such mental health
expert's fees for examination and testimony at a criminal trial or
juvenile court proceeding.
   (B) The prosecuting attorney shall submit a list of tests proposed
to be administered by the prosecution expert to the defendant in a
criminal action or a minor in a juvenile proceeding. At the request
of the defendant in a criminal action or a minor in a juvenile
proceeding, a hearing shall be held to consider any objections raised
to the proposed tests before any test is administered.  The
trial court shall   Before ordering that the defendant
submit to the examination, the trial court must  make a
threshold determination that the proposed tests bear some reasonable
relation to the mental state placed in issue by the defendant in a
criminal action or a minor in a juvenile proceeding. For the purposes
of this subdivision, the term "tests" shall include any and all
assessment techniques such as a clinical interview or a mental status
examination.
   (2) The purpose of this subdivision is to respond to Verdin v.
Superior Court 43 Cal.4th 1096, which held that only the Legislature
may authorize a court to order the appointment of a prosecution
mental health expert when a defendant has placed his or her mental
state at issue in a criminal case or juvenile proceeding pursuant to
Section 602 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. Other than 
requiring   authorizing  the court to order
testing by prosecution-retained mental health experts in response to
Verdin v. Superior Court, supra, it is not the intent of the
Legislature to disturb, in any way, the remaining body of case law
governing the procedural or substantive law that controls the
administration of these tests or the admission of the results of
these tests into evidence.