Bill Text: IA HF659 | 2019-2020 | 88th General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: A bill for an act relating to pretrial contact between a prosecuting witness who is a minor and the defendant. (Formerly HF 395.)

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2019-04-11 - Placed on calendar under unfinished business. S.J. 930. [HF659 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2019-HF659-Introduced.html
House File 659 - Introduced HOUSE FILE 659 BY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY (SUCCESSOR TO HF 395) A BILL FOR An Act relating to pretrial contact between a prosecuting 1 witness who is a minor and the defendant. 2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 3 TLSB 1942HV (2) 88 as/rh
H.F. 659 Section 1. NEW SECTION . 915.36A Minor prosecuting witness 1 —— pretrial contact. 2 A prosecuting witness who is a minor shall have the right to 3 have the interview or deposition taken outside of the presence 4 of the defendant. The interview or deposition may be televised 5 by closed-circuit equipment to a room where the defendant can 6 view the interview or deposition or in a manner that ensures 7 that the defendant shall not have contact with the minor. The 8 defendant shall be allowed to communicate with the defendant’s 9 counsel in the room where the minor is being interviewed or 10 deposed by an appropriate electronic method. 11 EXPLANATION 12 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 13 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly. 14 This bill relates to pretrial contact between a prosecuting 15 witness who is a minor and the defendant. 16 The bill provides that a prosecuting witness who is a minor 17 shall have the right to have a pretrial interview or deposition 18 taken outside of the presence of the defendant. The interview 19 or deposition may be televised by closed-circuit equipment or 20 in some other manner to a room where the defendant can view 21 the interview or deposition, but which ensures there is no 22 contact with the minor. The defendant shall be allowed to 23 communicate with the defendant’s attorney during the interview 24 or deposition through an appropriate electronic method. 25 -1- LSB 1942HV (2) 88 as/rh 1/ 1
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