BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2075
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 2075 (Cohn)
As Amended March 20, 2006
Majority vote
PUBLIC SAFETY 5-0
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|Ayes:|Leno, La Suer, Cohn, |
| |Goldberg, Spitzer |
| | |
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SUMMARY : Specifies that provisions proscribing child abuse and
crimes of domestic violence are all the same class of crimes or
offenses for the purposes of joinder in the same accusatory
pleading under separate counts. Specifically, this bill :
1)Specifies offenses related to the physical abuse of a child
and domestic violence are all of the same class of crimes or
offenses and may be charged in the same accusatory pleading
under separate counts.
2)Allows a court to consolidate cases if two or more accusatory
pleadings are filed in the same court alleging crimes of
domestic violence, as specified.
EXISTING LAW :
1)States that 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; 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
AB 2075
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of said groups tried separately. An acquittal of one or more
counts shall not be deemed an acquittal of any other count.
2)Provides that in cases in which two or more different offenses
of the same class of crimes or offenses have been charged
together in the same accusatory pleading, or where two or more
accusatory pleadings charging offenses of the same class of
crimes or offenses have been consolidated, evidence concerning
one offense or offenses need not be admissible as to the other
offense or offenses before the jointly charged offenses may be
tried together before the same trier of fact.
3)Defines "domestic violence" as abuse perpetrated against any
of the following persons:
a) A spouse or former spouse;
b) A cohabitant or former cohabitant as defined in current
law;
c) A person with whom the respondent is having, or has had,
a dating or engagement relationship;
d) A person with whom the respondent has had a child where
the presumption applies that the male parent is the father
of the child of the female parent under current law;
e) A child of a party or a child who is the subject of an
action under the Uniform Parentage Act, where the
presumption applies that the male parent is the father of
the child to be protected; or,
f) Any other person related by consanguinity or affinity
within the second degree.
4)States that any person who, under circumstances or conditions
likely to produce great bodily harm or death, willfully causes
or permits any child to suffer; inflicts thereon unjustifiable
physical pain or mental suffering; or having the care or
custody of any child, willfully causes or permits the person
or health of that child to be injured, or willfully causes or
permits that child to be placed in a situation where his or
her person or health is endangered, shall be punished by
imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year or in the
state prison for two, four, or six years.
5)States any person who, under circumstances or conditions other
than those likely to produce great bodily harm or death,
willfully causes or permits any child to suffer; or inflicts
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thereon unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering; or
having the care or custody of any child, willfully causes or
permits the person or health of that child to be injured, or
willfully causes or permits that child to be placed in a
situation where his or her person or health may be endangered,
is guilty of a misdemeanor.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS : According to the author, "Current law allows for
consolidation in one court two or more different offenses that
are connected in their commission. Allowing the court the
discretion of consolidating these cases in the same manner as
allowed in Penal Code 954 will provide benefits to the victims
and the accused. A victim will not have to relive his or her
tragedy repeatedly by having to testify in multiple trials and
the defendant will not be subjected to the possibility of a
district attorney seeking multiple trials to achieve a desired
outcome. In a violent home, violence does not discriminate by
age and frequently it is perpetrated against both the mother and
children. The correlation between child abuse and domestic
violence is a strong one."
Please see the policy committee analysis for full discussion of
this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Horiuchi / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744
FN: 0013914