BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1088| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- UNFINISHED BUSINESS Bill No: SB 1088 Author: Nguyen (R) and Bates (R), et al. Amended: 8/4/16 Vote: 21 SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 4/19/16 AYES: Hancock, Anderson, Glazer, Leno, Liu, Monning, Stone SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 5/27/16 AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza, Nielsen SENATE FLOOR: 37-0, 5/31/16 AYES: Allen, Anderson, Bates, Beall, Berryhill, Block, Cannella, De León, Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Glazer, Hancock, Hernandez, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson, Lara, Leno, Leyva, Liu, McGuire, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Moorlach, Nguyen, Nielsen, Pan, Pavley, Roth, Stone, Vidak, Wieckowski, Wolk NO VOTE RECORDED: Hall, Morrell, Runner ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-1, 8/18/16 - See last page for vote SUBJECT: Wrongful concealment: statute of limitations SOURCE: Author DIGEST: This bill states that, notwithstanding any other statutes of limitations, if a person actively conceals or attempts to conceal an accidental death, a criminal complaint may be filed within one year after the person is initially identified by law enforcement as a suspect in the commission of that offense. SB 1088 Page 2 Assembly Amendments strike the prior version of the bill that would have made the active concealment of an accidental death an alternate felony-misdemeanor. The bill now provides that the one-year statute of limitations shall run from the date of discovery of the offense, not the date of the offense. The amendments also include chaptering amendments protect this bill and SB 813 (Leyva). ANALYSIS: 1)Provides that it is a misdemeanor to actively conceal an accidental death, or attempt to do so. This misdemeanor is punishable by a jail term of up to one year, or a fine of between $1,000 and $10,000, or both. (Pen. Code § 152, subd. (a).) 2)Provides that to conceal an accidental death means to do one of the following acts: a) Perform an overt act that conceals the body or directly impedes the ability of authorities or family members to discover the body. b) Directly destroy or suppress evidence of the actual physical body of the deceased, including, but not limited to, bodily fluids or tissues. c) Destroy or suppress the actual physical instrumentality of death. (Pen. Code § 152, subd. (b).) 3)Provides that prosecution for felonies punishable for eight SB 1088 Page 3 years or more and not otherwise covered must be commenced within six years after commission of the offense. (Pen. Code § 800.) 4)Provides that prosecution for felonies punishable by less than eight years must be commenced within three years after commission of the offense. (Pen. Code § 801 5)Provides that prosecution for misdemeanors shall be commenced within one year after commission of the offense. (Pen. Code § 802.) 6)Provides exceptions for the one-year statute of limitations for specified misdemeanors, including that some misdemeanors may be prosecuted from one year following discovery of the offense. (Pen. Code § 803.) This bill states that, notwithstanding any other statutes of limitations, if a person actively conceals or attempts to conceal an accidental death, a criminal complaint may be filed within one year after the person is initially identified by law enforcement as a suspect in the commission of that offense. Comments According to the author, "SB 1088 would extend the statute of limitations in cases of accidental body concealment to one year from the time a suspect is initially identified by law enforcement. This extension provides additional time for authorities to hold those responsible in accidental body concealment cases. Families of the victims of body dumping deserve to have closure in these rare cases." The current misdemeanor of actively concealing an accidental death became effective 2000. It is not known how many SB 1088 Page 4 defendants have been prosecuted under this law. The Senate Public Safety Committee staff has been unable to find any appellate decisions interpreting the statute. That is not surprising, as misdemeanor appellate decisions by the superior court appellate division are seldom published. If the felony penalties in this bill are enacted, there would be a greater likelihood that a conviction would be challenged and a published decision on the statute issued by the Court of Appeal. One issue that might arise on appeal is whether the term "accidental death" is vague. To survive a challenge that a criminal statute is as vague as to deny due process, the statute must inform a person of ordinary intelligence what it prohibits or requires. (Connally v. General Construction Company (1926) 269 U.S. 385.) Neither current law nor this bill defines "accidental death." It appears that an accidental death would encompass any death that was not a criminal homicide. The determination of whether a death was accidental or intentional, and thus likely prosecuted as a criminal homicide, may not be simple. Under this bill, where the police believe that a person has concealed a death, Miranda warnings would be required in any interview conducted while the suspect was in custody or its functional equivalent. A "suspect" is a person upon whom investigating officers have focused their attention as the likely perpetrator of a crime. (People v. Stansbury (1993) 4 Cal.4th 1017, 1050-1054.) "Custody" generally means detention by the police such that the person is not free to leave. (Id, at 1053-1054; People v. Esqueda (1993) 17 Cal.App.4th 1450.) Evidence that would supply generalized suspicion about a murder - the person's concealment of a death - would constitute particular suspicion about the crime of concealing a death. The police would then be required to inform the person of his or her right to remain silent as to a possible prosecution for concealing the fact of a death. If the person then refuses to speak to the police and hires counsel, important evidence could be lost. If a suspect in a concealment of a body case is SB 1088 Page 5 interrogated in custody and Miranda warnings are not given, admissions by the suspect which implicate him or her in a murder could be found to be inadmissible in court. There may be numerous cases where a person who conceals a death is investigated, arrested and prosecuted for murder or another form of homicide. If the person is not arrested and questioned as a suspect in the concealment of an accidental death that offense could still be included as an additional charge in a homicide prosecution. If there is insufficient evidence to prove murder or manslaughter, the defendant could still be convicted of concealing an accidental death. Further, proof that a murder defendant concealed the body of the decedent would certainly be used as important and powerful evidence of consciousness of guilt. In any case in which the defendant fled the scene of a crime, intimidated witnesses or hid evidence, the court would instruct the jury that the defendant's conduct could be considered in determining his or her guilt. (Pen. Code § 1127c.) FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:NoLocal: No SUPPORT: (Verified8/18/16) Anaheim Police Department California State Sheriffs' Association Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Orange County District Attorney Orange County Sheriff's Department Santa Ana Police Department Several hundred individuals OPPOSITION: (Verified8/22/16) SB 1088 Page 6 California Public Defenders Association ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-1, 8/18/16 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon NOES: Mark Stone NO VOTE RECORDED: Roger Hernández, Quirk Prepared by:Jerome McGuire / PUB. S. / 8/22/16 10:50:05 **** END ****