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SB-1784 Plea bargaining.(2001-2002)

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SB1784:v97#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Senate  April 23, 2002
Amended  IN  Senate  May 02, 2002

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2001–2002 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 1784

Introduced  by  Senator Ackerman
 (Principal Coauthor(s): Assembly Member Bates, Cohn, Maldonado)
 (Coauthor(s): Senator Knight, Margett, Monteith, Speier)
 (Coauthor(s): Assembly Member Ashburn, Bill Campbell, Cox, Dickerson, Harman, Leach, Robert Pacheco, Rod Pacheco, Pescetti, Runner, Strickland)

February 21, 2002

An act to amend Section 273.5 of the Penal Code, relating to plea bargaining.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 1784, as amended, Ackerman. Plea bargaining.
Existing law provides that plea bargaining between a criminal defendant, or his or her counsel, and a prosecuting attorney or judge, whereby the defendant agrees to plead guilty or no contest, in exchange for any consideration by the prosecuting attorney or judge relating to any charge against the defendant or to the sentencing of the defendant is prohibited where the indictment or information charges any serious felony, as specified, unless there is insufficient evidence to prove the people’s case, testimony of a material witness cannot be obtained, or a reduction or dismissal would not result in a substantial change in sentence.
This bill would provide that plea bargaining is prohibited in any case in which felony willful infliction of corporal injury resulting in a traumatic condition upon a person who is the spouse, former spouse, cohabitant, or former cohabitant of the defendant, or who is the mother or father of the defendant’s child, is charged. Because this bill would change the definition of an existing crime, it would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: YES  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 273.5 of the Penal Code is amended to read:

273.5.
 (a) Any person who willfully inflicts upon a person who is his or her spouse, former spouse, cohabitant, former cohabitant, or the mother or father of his or her child, a corporal injury resulting in a traumatic condition, is guilty of a felony, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three, or four years, or in a county jail for not more than one year, or by a fine of up to six thousand dollars ($6,000) or by both that fine and imprisonment.
(b) Holding oneself out to be the husband or wife of the person with whom one is cohabiting is not necessary to constitute cohabitation as the term is used in this section.
(c) As used in this section, “traumatic condition” means a condition of the body, such as a wound or external or internal injury, whether of a minor or serious nature, caused by a physical force.
(d) For the purpose of this section, a person shall be considered the father or mother of another person’s child if the alleged male parent is presumed the natural father under Sections 7611 and 7612 of the Family Code.
(e) Any person convicted of violating this section for acts occurring within seven years of a previous conviction under subdivision (a), or subdivision (d) of Section 243, or Section 243.4, 244, 244.5, or 245, shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year, or by imprisonment in the state prison for two, four, or five years, or by both imprisonment and a fine of up to ten thousand dollars ($10,000).
(f) If probation is granted to any person convicted under subdivision (a), the court shall impose probation consistent with the provisions of Section 1203.097.
(g) If probation is granted, or the execution or imposition of a sentence is suspended, for any defendant convicted under subdivision (a) who has been convicted of any prior offense specified in subdivision (e), the court shall impose one of the following conditions of probation:
(1) If the defendant has suffered one prior conviction within the previous seven years for a violation of any offense specified in subdivision (e), it shall be a condition thereof, in addition to the provisions contained in Section 1203.097, that he or she be imprisoned in a county jail for not less than 15 days.
(2) If the defendant has suffered two or more prior convictions within the previous seven years for a violation of any offense specified in subdivision (e), it shall be a condition of probation, in addition to the provisions contained in Section 1203.097, that he or she be imprisoned in a county jail for not less than 60 days.
(3) The court, upon a showing of good cause, may find that the mandatory imprisonment required by this subdivision shall not be imposed and shall state on the record its reasons for finding good cause.
(h) If probation is granted upon conviction of a violation of subdivision (a), the conditions of probation may include, consistent with the terms of probation imposed pursuant to Section 1203.097, in lieu of a fine, one or both of the following requirements:
(1) That the defendant make payments to a battered women’s shelter, up to a maximum of five thousand dollars ($5,000), pursuant to Section 1203.097.
(2) That the defendant reimburse the victim for reasonable costs of counseling and other reasonable expenses that the court finds are the direct result of the defendant’s offense.
For any order to pay a fine, make payments to a battered women’s shelter, or pay restitution as a condition of probation under this subdivision, the court shall make a determination of the defendant’s ability to pay. In no event shall any order to make payments to a battered women’s shelter be made if it would impair the ability of the defendant to pay direct restitution to the victim or court-ordered child support. Where the injury to a married person is caused in whole or in part by the criminal acts of his or her spouse in violation of this section, the community property may not be used to discharge the liability of the offending spouse for restitution to the injured spouse, required by Section 1203.04, as operative on or before August 2, 1995, or Section 1202.4, or to a shelter for costs with regard to the injured spouse and dependents, required by this section, until all separate property of the offending spouse is exhausted.
(i) Plea bargaining, as defined in subdivision (b) of Section 1192.7, in any case in which the indictment or information charges a felony under this section shall be prohibited unless there is insufficient evidence to prove the people’s case, or testimony of a material witness cannot be obtained, or a reduction or dismissal would not result in a substantial change in sentence.

SEC. 2.

 No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.