BILL NUMBER: AB 885 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 29, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 14, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Ammiano
FEBRUARY 22, 2013
An act to add Section 1127j to the Penal Code, relating to
criminal procedure.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 885, as amended, Ammiano. Discovery: prosecutorial duty to
disclose information.
Existing law requires the prosecuting attorney to disclose to the
defendant or his or her attorney certain materials and information,
including statements of all defendants and any exculpatory evidence,
as specified.
This bill would require a court in any criminal trial or
proceeding in which the court has determined that there has
been an intentional failure the prosecuting attorney
has failed to disclose certain materials and information, as
specified, to instruct the jury that the failure to disclose has
occurred and that the jury may consider the failure as circumstantial
evidence to support the presence of reasonable doubt.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 1127j is added to the Penal Code, to read:
1127j. (a) In any criminal trial or
proceeding in which the court determines that there has been
an intentional failure the prosecuting attorney has
failed to disclose specified materials and information
pursuant to required under current law, including
Section 1054.1 or and Brady v.
Maryland (1963) 373 U.S. 83, the court shall instruct the jury that
the intentional failure to disclose the materials and information
occurred and that the jury may consider the failure to disclose as
circumstantial evidence to support the presence of reasonable doubt.
(b) Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit any other
remedy available under law.