Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

Stricken language would be deleted from and underlined language would be added to present law.
                                          Act 1096 of the Regular Session
 1   State of Arkansas              As Engrossed:       H3/8/21 S4/21/21
 2   93rd General Assembly                        A Bill
 3   Regular Session, 2021                                                             HOUSE BILL 1323
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 5   By: Representative Gazaway
 6   By: Senator T. Garner
 7
 8                                     For An Act To Be Entitled
 9                  AN ACT TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS IN-LIFE PHOTOGRAPH ACT;
10                  PERMITTING THE IN-LIFE PHOTOGRAPH OF A CRIME VICTIM
11                  TO BE DISPLAYED AT THE TRIAL OF A PERSON ACCUSED OF
12                  COMMITTING THE HOMICIDE; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
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15                                                 Subtitle
16                           TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS IN-LIFE PHOTOGRAPH
17                           ACT; AND PERMITTING THE IN-LIFE
18                           PHOTOGRAPH OF A CRIME VICTIM TO BE
19                           DISPLAYED AT THE TRIAL OF A PERSON
20                           ACCUSED OF COMMITTING THE HOMICIDE.
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23   BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS:
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25          SECTION 1.        DO NOT CODIFY.      Legislative findings.
26          The General Assembly finds that:
27                  (1)      In furtherance of the administration of justice in the State
28   of Arkansas, there is a compelling governmental interest to allow a person
29   who has been the victim of a crime the right to be present at all proceedings
30   at which the defendant accused of committing the homicide has the right to be
31   present;
32                  (2)      A crime scene or autopsy photograph of a person who has been
33   the victim of a homicide that is typically introduced to a judge and jury is
34   not an acceptable substitution for the presence in the courtroom of the
35   person who has been the victim of a homicide;
36                  (3)      The introduction of an admissible crime scene or autopsy
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     As Engrossed:       H3/8/21 S4/21/21                                          HB1323
 1   photograph does not effectively communicate to a judge or jury the personhood
 2   of the person who has been the victim of a homicide;
 3                 (4)    Due to the nature of homicide crimes, a trial involving a
 4   homicide offense stands apart from other trials in that the person who has
 5   been the victim of a homicide can neither be present nor seek justice himself
 6   or herself;
 7                 (5)    It is the policy of the State of Arkansas that the display
 8   of an in-life photograph of a person who has been the victim of a homicide is
 9   not by its nature inflammatory or likely to unduly provoke the sympathies of
10   a judge or jury to a degree as to unfairly prejudice a person accused of
11   committing the homicide or otherwise override the compelling public interest
12   of allowing a person who has been the victim of a homicide to be
13   appropriately represented at a homicide trial;
14                 (6)    It is a legitimate and compelling policy interest of the
15   State of Arkansas that the courts afford persons who have been victims of a
16   homicide the same consideration as persons who have been the victims of other
17   crimes; and
18                 (7)    There is a compelling public interest in ensuring that
19   persons who have been a victim of a homicide are granted a respectful
20   presence in a courtroom, not merely a presence diminished in humanity as
21   depicted in a crime scene or autopsy photograph that cannot capture the
22   personhood of the person who once lived, but depicted as a real person, and
23   this compelling public interest is narrowly tailored to achieve this public
24   policy by allowing an appropriate and respectful in-life photograph of the
25   person who has been the victim of a homicide to be displayed to a judge or
26   jury during a trial for a homicide offense.
27
28        SECTION 2.       Arkansas Code Title 16, Chapter 90, Subchapter 11, is
29   amended to add an additional section to read as follows:
30        16-90-1116.       Photograph of deceased person in homicide case.
31        (a)   This section shall be known and may be cited as the "Arkansas In-
32   Life Photograph Act".
33        (b)(1)     In a homicide case, the state has a right to have a photograph
34   depicting the deceased person as he or she appeared in life before the crime
35   occurred admitted and displayed at trial during the states case-in-chief, if
36   the photograph is submitted by the prosecution and is a reasonable, accurate,
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     As Engrossed:    H3/8/21 S4/21/21                                       HB1323
 1   and appropriate depiction of the deceased person, subject to Rule 403 of the
 2   Arkansas Rules of Evidence and any other rule or law.
 3              (2)    The court may limit the size of the photograph, the length
 4   of time the photograph is displayed, and give a limiting instruction to the
 5   jury as to the weight the photograph should be afforded.
 6
 7                                       /s/Gazaway
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10                                   APPROVED: 4/30/21
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