BILL NUMBER: SB 609	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JUNE 20, 2007

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Romero

                        FEBRUARY 22, 2007

   An act to add Section 1111.5 to the Penal Code, relating to
criminal procedure.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 609, as amended, Romero. Criminal procedure: informants.
   Existing law generally regulates the admissibility and use of
evidence.
   This bill would provide that a court may not convict a defendant,
find a special circumstance true, or use a fact in aggravation based
on the uncorroborated testimony of an in-custody informant.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 1111.5 is added to the Penal Code, to read:
   1111.5.  (a) A jury or judge may not convict a defendant, find a
special circumstance true, or use a fact in aggravation based on the
uncorroborated testimony of an in-custody informant. The testimony of
an in-custody informant shall be corroborated by other evidence that
 independently tends to connect   connects
 the defendant with the commission of the offense, the special
circumstance, or the evidence offered in aggravation to which the
in-custody informant testifies. Corroboration is not sufficient if it
merely shows the commission of the offense or the special
circumstance or the circumstance in aggravation. Corroboration of an
in-custody informant shall not be provided by the testimony of
another in-custody informant  unless the party calling t 
 he in-custody informant as a witness establishes by a
preponderance of the evidence that the in-custody informant has not
communicated with another in-custody informant on the subject of the
testimony  .
   (b) As used in this section, "in-custody informant" means a
person, other than a codefendant, percipient witness, accomplice, or
coconspirator, whose testimony is based on statements allegedly made
by the defendant while both the defendant and the informant were held
in within a city or county jail, state penal institution, or
correctional institution. Nothing in this section limits or changes
the requirements for corroboration of accomplice testimony pursuant
to Section 1111.