SB 1098 — AN ACT CONCERNING THE TESTIMONY OF JAILHOUSE WITNESSES.

General Assembly RaisedSubstitute Bill No.

1098 January Session, 2019 LCOAN No.ACT CONCERNING THE TESTIMONY OF JAILHOUSE WITNESSES.

6388 Referred to Committee on JUDICIARY Introduced by:

(JUD) AN ACT CONCERNING THE TESTIMONY OF JAILHOUSE WITNESSES.

(2) The jailhouse witness's cooperation agreement with the prosecutorial official and any benefit that the official has provided, LCOoffered No.or may offer in the future to any such jailhouse witness;

6388(3) 1The ofsubstance, 5time Raisedand Billplace No.1098of offeredany orstatement mayallegedly offergiven inby the futuredefendant to a jailhouse witness, and the substance, time and place of any suchstatement given by a jailhouse witness;witness implicating the defendant in an offense for which the defendant is indicted;

(3)LCO The\\PRDFS1\SCOUSERS\FORZANOF\WS\2019SB-01098-R01 substance, time and place of any4 statementSB.docx allegedlySubstitute givenBill byNo. the defendant to a jailhouse witness, and the substance, time and place of any statement given by a jailhouse witness implicating the defendant in a crime for which a defendant is indicted;

1098 (4) Whether at any time the jailhouse witness recanted any testimony subject to the disclosure and, if so, the time and place of the recantation, the nature of the recantation and the name of any person present at the recantation;

LCO(d) No.For the purposes of this section, "benefit" means any plea bargain, bail consideration, reduction or modification of sentence or any other leniency, immunity, financial payment, reward or amelioration of current or future conditions of incarceration offered or provided in connection with, or in exchange for, testimony that is offered or provided by a jailhouse witness;

6388and 2"jailhouse ofwitness" 5LCO Raised{\\PRDFS1\SCOUSERS\FORZANOF\WS\2019SB-01092 Bill No.1098 (d) For the purposes of this4 section,R01-SB.docx "benefit"} meansSubstitute anyBill pleaNo. bargain, bail consideration, reduction or modification of sentence or any other leniency, immunity, financial payment, reward or amelioration of current or future conditions of incarceration offered or provided in connection with, or in exchange for, testimony that is offered or provided by a jailhouse witness;

and1098 "jailhouse witness" means a person who is incarcerated at the time that he or she offers or provides testimony concerning statements made by a person suspected as the perpetrator of an offense or a defendant.

(NEW) (Effective October 1, 2019) (a) In any criminal prosecution of a defendant for ana offenseviolation of section 53a-54a, 53a-54b, 53a-54c, 53a-54d, 53a-70, 53a-70a or 53a-70c of the general statutes, upon a motion of the defendant before the start of a trial on any such offense, the court shall conduct a hearing to decidedetermine whether any jailhouse witness's testimony is reliable and admissible.

The court shall make such determination concerning the reliability of the witness after evaluation of the information or material disclosed pursuant to subdivisions (1) to (5), inclusive, of subsection (a) of section 1 of this act, asand well as the following factors:

and (5) The circumstances under which the jailhouse witness initially provided information supporting such testimony to a sworn member of a municipal police department, a sworn member of the Division of State Police within the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection or a prosecutorial official, including whether the jailhouse LCOwitness No.was responding to a leading question.

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1098 witness was responding to a leading question.

(c)LCO For{\\PRDFS1\SCOUSERS\FORZANOF\WS\2019SB-01093 purposes of this4 section,R01-SB.docx "jailhouse} witness"Substitute meansBill jailhouseNo. witness, as defined in section 1 of this act.

1098 (c) For the purposes of this section, "jailhouse witness" means jailhouse witness, as defined in section 1 of this act.

and (2) The jailhouse witness's agreement to cooperate with the state's attorney and benefit, as defined in section 1 of this act, that the state's attorney has provided, offered or may offer in the future to the jailhouse witness in connection with the testimony described in subdivision (1) of this subsection;subsection.

3 October 1, 2019 New section Statement of Purpose:Legislative Commissioners:

ToIn addSection safeguards1(a)(3), against"a thecrime" usewas ofreplaced unreliablewith testimony"an inoffense" afor criminalconsistency. case.

LCOIn No.Section 2(a) "an offense" was replaced with "a violation" for clarity.

6388JUD 4Joint ofFavorable 5Subst. Raised Bill No.

1098-LCO [ProposedLCO deletions{\\PRDFS1\SCOUSERS\FORZANOF\WS\2019SB-01098- are4 enclosedof in4 brackets.R01-SB.docx }

Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.] LCO No.

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