Bill Text: NY S01077 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Provides an exception to the hearsay rule to allow testimony from persons with developmental disabilities.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-01-03 - REFERRED TO CODES [S01077 Detail]
Download: New_York-2017-S01077-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1077 2017-2018 Regular Sessions IN SENATE January 6, 2017 ___________ Introduced by Sen. CARLUCCI -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes AN ACT to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to providing an exception to the hearsay rule to allow testimony from persons with developmental disabilities The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The criminal procedure law is amended by adding a new 2 section 60.77 to read as follows: 3 § 60.77 Statements of persons with developmental disabilities; hearsay 4 exception. 5 1. An out-of-court statement made by a person with a developmental 6 disability, as defined in subdivision twenty-two of section 1.03 of the 7 mental hygiene law, not otherwise admissible by a statute or court rule 8 that provides an exception to the objection of hearsay is admissible in 9 any criminal or delinquency proceeding in which the person is alleged to 10 have been a victim if the conditions of subdivision five of this section 11 are satisfied. 12 2. (a) An out-of-court statement made by a person with a developmental 13 disability, as defined in subdivision twenty-two of section 1.03 of the 14 mental hygiene law, that describes all or part of an offense described 15 in paragraph (b) of this subdivision performed with, by, on, or in the 16 presence of the declarant, and that is not otherwise admissible by a 17 statute or court rule that provides an exception to the objection of 18 hearsay, is admissible in any criminal, delinquency, or civil proceeding 19 if the conditions of subdivision five of this section are satisfied. 20 (b) The exception described in paragraph (a) of this subdivision 21 applies to an out-of-court statement made by a person with a develop- 22 mental disability, which statement describes all or part of any of the 23 following offenses: EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD01802-01-7S. 1077 2 1 (i) any offense described in article one hundred thirty of the penal 2 law; 3 (ii) labor trafficking as described in section 135.35 of the penal 4 law; 5 (iii) an offense involving incest as described in section 255.25, 6 255.26 or 255.27 of the penal law; 7 (iv) sex trafficking as described in section 230.34 of the penal law; 8 (v) any offense described in article two hundred thirty-five of the 9 penal law; 10 (vi) criminal attempt to commit any of the acts specified in this 11 paragraph. 12 3. An out-of-court statement by a person with a developmental disabil- 13 ity, as defined in subdivision twenty-two of section 1.03 of the mental 14 hygiene law, that describes any act of child abuse, child neglect or 15 child maltreatment to which the declarant was subjected or which the 16 declarant witnessed, and that is not otherwise admissible by a statute 17 or court rule that provides an exception to the objection of hearsay, is 18 admissible in evidence in any criminal, delinquency, or civil proceeding 19 in which a child is alleged to be a victim of child abuse, neglect or 20 maltreatment, if the conditions of subdivision five of this section are 21 satisfied. 22 4. An out-of-court statement made by a person with a developmental 23 disability, as defined in subdivision twenty-two of section 1.03 of the 24 mental hygiene law, that describes all or part of an offense contained 25 in article one hundred twenty-five of the penal law, or that describes 26 an act of domestic violence as defined in subdivision one of section 27 four hundred eighty-one-c of the social services law, not otherwise 28 admissible by statute or court rule that provides an exception to the 29 objection of hearsay, is admissible in evidence in any criminal, delin- 30 quency, or civil proceeding if the conditions of subdivision five of 31 this section are satisfied. 32 5. The exceptions to the objection of hearsay described in subdivi- 33 sions one, two, three and four of this section shall apply only if the 34 court finds in a hearing conducted outside the presence of the jury that 35 the time, content, and circumstances of the statement provide sufficient 36 safeguards of reliability; and either: 37 (a) the statement is a non-testimonial statement; or 38 (b) (i) the declarant testifies at the proceedings; or 39 (ii) if the declarant is unavailable to testify, the defendant has had 40 an opportunity to cross-examine the declarant in a previous proceeding 41 and there is corroborative evidence of the act which is the subject of 42 the statement. 43 6. If a statement is admitted pursuant to this section, the court 44 shall instruct the jury in the final written instructions that during 45 the proceeding the jury heard evidence repeating a person's out-of-court 46 statement, that it is for the jury to determine the weight and credit to 47 be given the statement, and that, in making the determination, the jury 48 shall consider the nature of the statement, the circumstances under 49 which the statement was made, and any other relevant factor. 50 7. The proponent of the statement shall give the adverse party reason- 51 able notice of his or her intention to offer the statement and the 52 particulars of the statement. 53 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
