BILL NUMBER: AB 2075	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Cohn

                        FEBRUARY 16, 2006

   An act to amend Section 954 of the Penal Code, relating to crime.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2075, as introduced, Cohn  Crime.
   Existing law provides that an accusatory pleading may charge 2 or
more offenses of the same class of crimes or offenses, under separate
counts, and that if 2 or more accusatory pleadings are filed in such
cases in the same court, the court may order them to be
consolidated.
   This bill would specify that provisions proscribing child abuse
and crimes of domestic violence are all of the same class of crimes
or offenses and therefore may be charged in the same accusatory
pleading under separate counts. This bill would also require a court
to consolidate 2 or more accusatory pleadings filed in the same court
alleging any crime of domestic violence.
   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 954 of the Penal Code is amended to read:
   954.   (a)    An accusatory pleading may charge
two or more different offenses connected together in their
commission, or different statements of the same offense or two or
more different offenses of the same class of crimes or offenses,
under separate counts, and if two or more accusatory pleadings are
filed in such cases in the same court, the court may order them to be
consolidated. The prosecution is not required to elect between the
different offenses or counts set forth in the accusatory pleading,
but the defendant may be convicted of any number of the offenses
charged, and each offense of which the defendant is convicted must be
stated in the verdict or the finding of the court; provided, that
the court in which a case is triable, in the interests of justice and
for good cause shown, may in its discretion order that the different
offenses or counts set forth in the accusatory pleading be tried
separately or divided into two or more groups and each of said groups
tried separately. An acquittal of one or more counts shall not be
deemed an acquittal of any other count.  
   (b) For purposes of this section, violations of Section 273a,
273ab, and 273d and any crime of domestic violence, as defined in
Section 6211 of the Family Code, are all of the same class of crimes
or offenses and may be charged in the same accusatory pleading under
separate counts.  
   (c) If two or more accusatory pleadings are filed in the same
court alleging any crime of domestic violence, as defined in Section
6211 of the Family Code, the court shall order them to be
consolidated.