BILL NUMBER: SB 1091 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 148
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE JULY 17, 2012
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR JULY 17, 2012
PASSED THE SENATE APRIL 23, 2012
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY JULY 2, 2012
INTRODUCED BY Senators Pavley and Lieu
FEBRUARY 15, 2012
An act to amend Section 868.5 of the Penal Code, relating to
witness testimony.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1091, Pavley. Witness testimony: support persons.
Existing law authorizes a prosecuting witness in cases involving
specified crimes, including, among others, murder, kidnapping,
robbery, assault, and rape, to have up to 2 persons of his or her own
choosing for support at a preliminary hearing and at trial, or at a
juvenile court proceeding, during the testimony of the prosecuting
witness.
This bill would expand the list of cases in which a prosecuting
witness may have support persons to include, among others, cases
involving human trafficking, prostitution, child exploitation, and
obscenity, as specified.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 868.5 of the Penal Code is amended to read:
868.5. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, a prosecuting witness
in a case involving a violation of Section 187, 203, 205, 207, 211,
215, 220, 236.1, 240, 242, 243.4, 245, 261, 262, 266, 266a, 266b,
266c, 266d, 266e, 266f, 266g, 266h, 266i, 266j, 266k, 267, 269, 273a,
273d, 273.5, 273.6, 278, 278.5, 285, 286, 288, 288a, 288.5, 289,
311.1, 311.2, 311.3, 311.4, 311.5, 311.6, 311.10, 311.11, or 647.6,
former Section 277 or 647a, subdivision (1) of Section 314, or
subdivision (b), (d), or (e) of Section 368 when the prosecuting
witness is the elder or dependent adult, shall be entitled, for
support, to the attendance of up to two persons of his or her own
choosing, one of whom may be a witness, at the preliminary hearing
and at the trial, or at a juvenile court proceeding, during the
testimony of the prosecuting witness. Only one of those support
persons may accompany the witness to the witness stand, although the
other may remain in the courtroom during the witness' testimony. The
person or persons so chosen shall not be a person described in
Section 1070 of the Evidence Code unless the person or persons are
related to the prosecuting witness as a parent, guardian, or sibling
and do not make notes during the hearing or proceeding.
(b) If the person or persons so chosen are also witnesses, the
prosecution shall present evidence that the person's attendance is
both desired by the prosecuting witness for support and will be
helpful to the prosecuting witness. Upon that showing, the court
shall grant the request unless information presented by the defendant
or noticed by the court establishes that the support person's
attendance during the testimony of the prosecuting witness would pose
a substantial risk of influencing or affecting the content of that
testimony. In the case of a juvenile court proceeding, the judge
shall inform the support person or persons that juvenile court
proceedings are confidential and may not be discussed with anyone not
in attendance at the proceedings. In all cases, the judge shall
admonish the support person or persons to not prompt, sway, or
influence the witness in any way. Nothing in this section shall
preclude a court from exercising its discretion to remove a person
from the courtroom whom it believes is prompting, swaying, or
influencing the witness.
(c) The testimony of the person or persons so chosen who are also
witnesses shall be presented before the testimony of the prosecuting
witness. The prosecuting witness shall be excluded from the courtroom
during that testimony. Whenever the evidence given by that person or
those persons would be subject to exclusion because it has been
given before the corpus delicti has been established, the evidence
shall be admitted subject to the court's or the defendant's motion to
strike that evidence from the record if the corpus delicti is not
later established by the testimony of the prosecuting witness.