BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 256 (Jones-Sawyer) - Falsifying evidence
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|Version: June 16, 2015 |Policy Vote: PUB. S. 7 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes |
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|Hearing Date: July 6, 2015 |Consultant: Jolie Onodera |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: AB 256 would expand the prohibition against knowingly,
willfully, and intentionally tampering with evidence to include
digital images and video recordings.
Fiscal
Impact:
Potential increase in state costs (General Fund) for felony
convictions resulting in additional commitments to state
prison. While the number of commitments to state prison in any
one year is likely to be minimal, to the extent even one
commitment per year occurs over a two-year period would result
in state costs of $54,000 based on the estimated in-state
contract bed cost per inmate of $27,000 per year.
Potential increase in non-reimbursable local enforcement and
incarceration costs, offset to a degree by fine revenue for
new misdemeanor convictions.
AB 256 (Jones-Sawyer) Page 1 of
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Background: Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for a person to knowingly,
willfully, and intentionally alter, modify, plant, place,
manufacture, conceal, or move any physical matter, with specific
intent that the action will result in a person being charged
with a crime, or with the specific intent that the physical
matter will be wrongfully produced as genuine or true upon any
trial, proceeding, or inquiry. (Penal Code (PC) § 141(a).)
In the case of a peace officer, an officer who knowingly,
willfully, and intentionally alters, modifies, plants, places,
manufactures, conceals, or moves any physical matter, with
specific intent that the action will result in a person being
charged with a crime or with the specific intent that the
physical matter will be wrongfully produced as genuine or true
upon any trial, proceeding, or inquiry, is guilty of a felony
punishable by two, three, or five years in the state prison. (PC
§ 141(b).)
Existing law provides that every person who, knowing that any
book, paper, record, instrument in writing, or other matter or
thing, is about to be produced in evidence upon any trial,
inquiry, or investigation authorized by law, willfully destroys
or conceals the same, with intent thereby to prevent it from
being produced, is guilty of a misdemeanor. (PC § 135.)
This bill seeks to update the aforementioned provisions of law
to expand the prohibition against tampering with evidence to
include digital images and video recordings.
Proposed Law:
This bill would expand the prohibition against falsifying
evidence to include digital images and video recordings.
Specifically, this bill:
Provides that a person who knowingly, willfully,
intentionally, and wrongfully alters, modifies, plants,
places, manufactures, conceals, or moves any physical
matter, digital image, or video recording, with specific
intent that the action will result in a person being
AB 256 (Jones-Sawyer) Page 2 of
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charged with a crime or with the specific intent that the
physical matter will be wrongfully produced as genuine or
true upon a trial, proceeding, or inquiry, is guilty of a
misdemeanor.
In the case of peace officers, specifies that an officer
who knowingly, willfully, intentionally, and wrongfully
alters, modifies, plants, places, manufactures, conceals,
or moves any physical matter, digital image, or video
recording, with specific intent that the action will result
in a person being charged with a crime or with the specific
intent that the physical matter, digital image, or video
recording will be concealed or destroyed, or fraudulently
represented as the original evidence upon a trial,
proceeding, or inquiry, is guilty of a felony.
Specifies that the prohibition against destroying or
concealing evidence applies to a digital image or video
recording owned by another and also applies if it was
erased with the intent to prevent it or its content from
being produced.
Prior
Legislation: AB 1993 (Romero) Chapter 620/2000 made it a felony
for a peace officer to knowingly alter, place, or move physical
matter with the specific intent to wrongfully charge another
person for a crime.
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