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2020 SESSION

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HB 746 Custodial interrogation of a child; parental notification and contact.

Introduced by: Vivian E. Watts | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles | history

SUMMARY AS PASSED:

Custodial interrogation of a child; parental notification and contact. Requires that prior to the custodial interrogation of a child who has been arrested by a law-enforcement officer for a criminal violation, the child's parent, guardian, or legal custodian be notified of the child's arrest and the child have contact with his parent, guardian, or legal custodian. Such notification and contact may be in person, electronically, by telephone, or by video conference. However, notification and contact prior to a custodial interrogation is not required if the parent, guardian, or legal custodian is a codefendant in the alleged offense; the parent, guardian, or legal custodian has been arrested for, has been charged with, or is being investigated for a crime against the child; the person cannot reasonably be located or refuses contact with the child; or the law-enforcement officer conducting the custodial interrogation reasonably believes the information sought is necessary to protect life, limb, or property from an imminent danger and the questions are limited to those that are reasonably necessary to obtain that information.

SUMMARY AS PASSED HOUSE:

Custodial interrogation of a child; parental notification and contact. Requires that prior to the custodial interrogation of a child, the child's parent, guardian, or legal custodian shall be notified of the child's arrest and the child shall have contact with his parent, guardian, or legal custodian in person, by telephone, or by video conference. However, notification and contact prior to a custodial interrogation is not required if the parent, guardian, or legal custodian is a codefendant in the alleged offense; the parent, guardian, or legal custodian has been arrested for, has been charged with, or is being investigated for a crime against the child; the person cannot reasonably be located or refuses contact with the child; or the law-enforcement officer conducting the custodial interrogation reasonably believes the information sought is necessary to protect life, limb, or property from an imminent danger and the questions are limited to those that are reasonably necessary to obtain that information.

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED:

Custodial interrogation of a child; consultation with legal counsel; admissibility of statements. Requires that prior to the custodial interrogation, defined in the bill, of a child, the child shall (i) consult with legal counsel in person, by telephone, or by video conference and (ii) have contact with his parent, guardian, legal custodian, or other person standing in loco parentis in person, by telephone, or by video conference. The bill also provides that any statement made by a child during or after a custodial interrogation that does not comply with the provisions of this section shall be inadmissible as evidence unless (a) the law-enforcement officer who conducted the custodial interrogation of the child reasonably believed the information he sought was necessary to protect life or property from an imminent threat and (b) the law-enforcement officer's questions were limited to those that were reasonably necessary to obtain that information.