BILL NUMBER: SB 1091	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senators Pavley and Lieu

                        FEBRUARY 15, 2012

   An act to amend Section 868.5 of the Penal Code, relating to
witness testimony.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1091, as introduced, Pavley. Witness testimony: support
persons.
   Existing law authorizes a prosecuting witness in cases involving
specified crimes, including, among others, murder, kidnapping,
robbery, assault, and rape, to have up to 2 persons of his or her own
choosing for support at a preliminary hearing and at trial, or at a
juvenile court proceeding, during the testimony of the prosecuting
witness.
   This bill would expand the list of cases in which a prosecuting
witness may have support persons to include, among others, cases
involving human trafficking, prostitution, child exploitation, and
obscenity, as specified.
   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 868.5 of the Penal Code is amended to read:
   868.5.  (a) Notwithstanding any other law, a prosecuting witness
in a case involving a violation of Section 187, 203, 205, 207, 211,
215, 220,  236.1,  240, 242, 243.4, 245, 261, 262,  266,
266a, 266b, 266c, 266d, 266e, 266f, 266g, 266h, 266i, 266j, 266k,
267, 269,  273a, 273d, 273.5, 273.6, 278, 278.5, 285, 286, 288,
288a, 288.5, 289,  311.1, 311.2, 311.3, 311.4, 311.5, 311.6,
311.10, 311.11,  or 647.6, former Section 277 or 647a,
subdivision (1) of Section 314, or subdivision (b), (d), or (e) of
Section 368 when the prosecuting witness is the elder or dependent
adult, shall be entitled, for support, to the attendance of up to two
persons of his or her own choosing, one of whom may be a witness, at
the preliminary hearing and at the trial, or at a juvenile court
proceeding, during the testimony of the prosecuting witness. Only one
of those support persons may accompany the witness to the witness
stand, although the other may remain in the courtroom during the
witness' testimony. The person or persons so chosen shall not be a
person described in Section 1070 of the Evidence Code unless the
person or persons are related to the prosecuting witness as a parent,
guardian, or sibling and do not make notes during the hearing or
proceeding.
   (b) If the person or persons so chosen are also witnesses, the
prosecution shall present evidence that the person's attendance is
both desired by the prosecuting witness for support and will be
helpful to the prosecuting witness. Upon that showing, the court
shall grant the request unless information presented by the defendant
or noticed by the court establishes that the support person's
attendance during the testimony of the prosecuting witness would pose
a substantial risk of influencing or affecting the content of that
testimony. In the case of a juvenile court proceeding, the judge
shall inform the support person or persons that juvenile court
proceedings are confidential and may not be discussed with anyone not
in attendance at the proceedings. In all cases, the judge shall
admonish the support person or persons to not prompt, sway, or
influence the witness in any way. Nothing in this section shall
preclude a court from exercising its discretion to remove a person
from the courtroom whom it believes is prompting, swaying, or
influencing the witness.
   (c) The testimony of the person or persons so chosen who are also
witnesses shall be presented before the testimony of the prosecuting
witness. The prosecuting witness shall be excluded from the courtroom
during that testimony. Whenever the evidence given by that person or
those persons would be subject to exclusion because it has been
given before the corpus delicti has been established, the evidence
shall be admitted subject to the court's or the defendant's motion to
strike that evidence from the record if the corpus delicti is not
later established by the testimony of the prosecuting witness.