Feb 25, 2021 By Gary Blankenship Senior Editor Top Stories
Rep. Spencer Roach
Bills being pushed by Florida’s state attorneys to make it harder to take depositions from juvenile victims and witnesses in violent crime cases have been introduced in the Florida Legislature.
HB 465, sponsored by Rep. Spencer Roach, R-North Ft. Myers, and SB 1328, by Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation, would prohibit depositions, except with a showing of good cause, from victims or witnesses under 18, those with intellectual disabilities, or victims of sexual assault. The prohibition would cover 13 types of violent crimes.
Those crimes include murder, sexual battery, lewd and lascivious offenses under F.S. §800.04, human trafficking, kidnapping, domestic violence, child abuse, and aggravated cyberstalking.