BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1272
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
1272 (Grove)
As Amended January 13, 2016
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Public Safety |7-0 |Quirk, Melendez, | |
| | |Gonzalez, | |
| | |Jones-Sawyer, Lackey, | |
| | |Low, Santiago | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Public Safety |6-0 |Quirk, Melendez, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Jones-Sawyer, Lackey, | |
| | |Low, Santiago | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Requires the court to make reasonable efforts to avoid
scheduling a case involving a crime committed against a person
with a developmental disability when the prosecutor has another
trial set.
AB 1272
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EXISTING LAW:
1)Entitles both the prosecution and a defendant have a right to
a speedy trial.
2)Provides that absent good cause, a defendant is entitled to
have felony charges against him or her dismissed if he or she
is not brought to trial within 60 days after arraignment.
3)Allows a trial court to grant continuances only upon a showing
of "good cause."
4)States that neither the convenience of the parties nor a
stipulation of the parties is in and of itself good cause.
5)Provides that scheduling conflicts of a prosecutor in specific
types of cases does constitute good cause for a continuance.
6)Requires the court to make reasonable efforts to avoid
scheduling a murder, sexual assault, child abuse, or career
criminal prosecution case when the prosecutor has another
trial set.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS: According to the author, "People with developmental
disabilities are victimized by violent crimes at much higher
rates than the general population. The perpetrators often go
free for reasons that include the difficulties with prosecuting
these complex cases.
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"Current law requires a court to make reasonable efforts to
avoid setting a trial for certain complex and
difficult-to-prosecute crimes on the same day that the
prosecutor is scheduled for another trial. This allows district
attorneys to assign specialized prosecutors to these cases.
"This bill will extend this flexibility to cases of crimes
against people with developmental disabilities."
Trial Continuances: A defendant has a right to a speedy trial
guaranteed by both the Sixth Amendment of the United States
Constitution and by the California Constitution. To implement
an accused's constitutional right to a speedy trial, the
Legislature has prescribed certain time periods within which an
accused must be brought to trial. (See Penal Code Section
1382.) The California Supreme Court has held that a delay
without good cause of more than the 60-day time period is a
legislatively determined violation of a defendant's
constitutional right to a speedy trial. (Sykes v. Superior
Court (1973) 9 Cal.3d 83, 89.)
Good cause is not defined in statute; rather, what constitutes
good cause depends on the totality of the circumstances in each
case. (People v. Johnson (1980) 26 Cal.3d 557, 570.)
Generally, unavailability of the prosecutor due to calendar
conflicts does not constitute good cause in and of itself. (See
e.g., Batey v. Superior Court (1977) 71 Cal.App.3d 952.)
However, the Legislature has determined that when the prosecutor
is unavailable to try a case involving murder, career criminal
prosecutions, child abuse, domestic violence, certain sex
offenses, and stalking, this constitutes automatic good cause
for a continuance of up to 10 days. (Penal Code Section 1050
Subdivision (g)(2).)
Existing law also directs judges to take reasonable efforts to
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avoid double setting a prosecutor for trial where one of the
cases involves a charge of murder, sexual assault, child abuse
or a career criminal prosecution. (Penal Code Section 1048.1.)
This bill would add cases in which it is charged that the victim
is a person with a developmental disability, as defined, to
these provisions. It does not provide that automatic good cause
for continuance of a criminal trial includes cases where a
victim is a person with a developmental disability. The court
retains discretion to manage its trial calendar.
Analysis Prepared by:
Sandy Uribe / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744 FN:
0002552