BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2075
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 2075 (Cohn)
As Amended June 29, 2006
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |72-0 |(April 6, 2006) |SENATE: |37-0 |(August 10, |
| | | | | |2006) |
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Original Committee Reference: PUB. S.
SUMMARY : Specifies that provisions proscribing child abuse and
crimes of domestic violence may be joined in the same accusatory
pleading under separate counts.
The Senate amendments :
1)Clarifies, at the discretion of the court, in the interest of
justice and for good cause shown, violations of domestic
violence or child abuse may be tried separately or divided into
two or more groups and tried separately.
2)Delete a declaration that crimes of child abuse and domestic
violence are the same class of crimes or offenses.
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 of said groups tried
separately. An acquittal of one or more counts shall not be
AB 2075
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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;
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;
d) 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,
e) 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 that 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
thereon unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering; or
having the care or custody of any child, willfully causes or
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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.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill:
1)Specified that 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)Allowed a court to consolidate cases if two or more accusatory
pleadings are filed in the same court alleging crimes of
domestic violence, as specified.
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:
0015597