BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2075|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2075
Author: Cohn (D)
Amended: 6/29/06 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 6-0, 6/13/06
AYES: Migden, Poochigian, Cedillo, Margett, Perata, Romero
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 72-0, 4/6/06 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Domestic violence and child abuse: joinder of
counts and
consolidation
SOURCE : Vern Pierson, Amador County Chief Assistant
District
Attorney
DIGEST : This bill enhances the power of prosecutors to
join counts of child abuse and domestic violence, as
specified.
ANALYSIS : Current law provides that (a)n 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
CONTINUED
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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."
This bill specifies that provisions proscribing child abuse
and crimes of domestic violence may be charged in the same
accusatory pleading under separate counts, subject to the
discretion of the court to try the counts separately, as
specified.
This bill additionally provides that if "two or more
accusatory pleadings are filed in the same court alleging
any crime of domestic violence, as specified, the court may
order them to be consolidated."
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 7/5/06)
Vern Pierson, Amador County Chief Assistant District
Attorney (source)
California Correctional Supervisors Organization
California District Attorneys Association
Child Abuse Prevention Council of Contra Costa County
Los Angeles County District Attorney' Office
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author:
"AB 2075 will benefit both the victim and the accused.
The victims will not have to relive their tragedy
repeatedly by having to testify in multiple trials. The
defendant will not be subjected to the possibility of
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an overzealous 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. ?
"Also, in many places felonies and misdemeanors are
usually prosecuted by different public law offices. As
a result, there is a risk that those in charge of
misdemeanor prosecutions may proceed without adequately
assessing the seriousness of a defendant's conduct or
considering whether a felony prosecution should be
undertaken. A well advised defendant may plead guilty
to a misdemeanor to foreclose a subsequent felony
prosecution the misdemeanor prosecutor may be unaware
of or may choose to ignore.
"Finally, AB 2075 avoids needless repetition of
evidence, saves the victim the trauma of reliving their
victimization, and saves the state and defendant time
and money."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Baca, Bass, Benoit, Berg, Bermudez, Blakeslee, Bogh,
Calderon, Canciamilla, Chan, Chavez, Chu, Cogdill, Cohn,
Coto, Daucher, De La Torre, DeVore, Dymally, Emmerson,
Evans, Frommer, Garcia, Hancock, Haynes, Jerome Horton,
Shirley Horton, Houston, Huff, Jones, Karnette, Keene,
Klehs, La Malfa, La Suer, Laird, Leno, Leslie, Levine,
Lieber, Lieu, Matthews, Maze, McCarthy, Montanez,
Mountjoy, Mullin, Nakanishi, Nation, Negrete McLeod,
Niello, Oropeza, Parra, Pavley, Plescia, Richman,
Ridley-Thomas, Sharon Runner, Ruskin, Salinas, Spitzer,
Strickland, Torrico, Tran, Umberg, Vargas, Villines,
Walters, Wolk, Wyland, Yee, Nunez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Aghazarian, Arambula, Goldberg, Harman,
Koretz, Liu, Nava, Saldana
RJG:mel 7/5/06 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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