| SB 130 | Committee | Brown | Confessions are powerful evidence of guilt. This Act adopts the Uniform Law Commission's Uniform Electronic Recordation of Custodial Interrogations Act to promote truth-finding, promote efficiency, and protect constitutional values. The scope of recording required under the Uniform Act, and the exceptions to the recording requirement, are consistent with the requirements set by the Attorney General in the Attorney General’s Custodial Interrogation Model Policy, available at: https://attorneygeneral.delaware.gov/law-enforcement/custodial-interrogation-policy-2018/.
Specifically, this Act mandates audio recording or audio and video recording of the custodial interrogation process by law enforcement when the interrogation relates to a crime, as crime is defined under the Delaware Criminal Code.
Recognizing that a blanket requirement of recording electronically all interrogation is not feasible, this Act provides 6 exceptions to the recording mandate: (1) exigent circumstances, (2) an individual's refusal to be recorded, (3) interrogations occurring in other jurisdictions, (4) when the interrogator reasonably believes that the offense involved is not one the Act mandates must be recorded, (5) when the interrogator or interrogator's supervisor reasonably believes electronic recording would reveal a confidential informant's identity or jeopardize the safety of the officer, the person interrogated, or another individual, and (6) equipment malfunctions.
Further, this Act requires the prosecution to notify the defense of an intention to introduce an unrecorded statement and of the exception that permitted the lack of recording. This Act requires the prosecution to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that an exception applies. This Act also prescribes remedies for violations of the electronic recording requirement, including the giving of a cautionary instruction to the jury.
Finally, this Act requires the Attorney General to adopt rules to implement this Act, which are to be enforced by each law enforcement agency. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ELECTRONIC RECORDATION OF CUSTODIAL INTERROGATIONS. |
| SB 39 | Committee | Brown | In 2017, 44,889 failure to pay capias issued for people who did not pay a fine, fee, cost, assessment, or restitution imposed for a non-felony offense. In the first 6 months of 2018, there were a total of 5,807 admissions to detention at all Level V facilities. Of these admissions, 129 were for failure to pay only and 595 were for failure to pay and another charge. When a capias is issued for nonpayment of a fine, courts currently may and do impose fees to cancel the warrant. When defendants are late paying their fines, the courts’ clerks also must forward the defendant’s name to the Department of Transportation’s Division of Motor Vehicles for license suspension.
This Act prohibits a court or the Department of Transportation from suspending a driver’s license for nonpayment of a fine, fee, cost, assessment, or restitution and from charging a penalty, assessment, or fee to a defendant for the cancellation of a warrant issued due to the defendant’s nonpayment of a fine, fee, cost, assessment, or restitution. This Act also prohibits a court from imposing an additional fee on a defendant for payments that are made at designated periodic intervals or late, or when probation is ordered to supervise a defendant’s payment. Nothing in this Act precludes the court from filing contempt charges against defendants who willfully fail to pay their fines imposed after their ability to pay hearing.
Further, this Act permits a court, before imposing a fine, fee, cost, or assessment, to consider a defendant’s ability to pay the fine, fee, costs, or assessment, whether an adult or a juvenile, is able to pay the fine, fee, cost, or assessment. This Act also provides the courts with discretion to waive, modify, suspend, costs, assessments, fines, and fees even if otherwise deemed mandatory by the Code.
Additionally, this Act requires state, county, and municipal law enforcement agencies and volunteer ambulance companies to calculate and report the total sum they receive from fines, fees, costs, assessments and restitution and make a public report of these totals.
This Act also creates the Criminal Legal System Imposed Debt Study Group to review the impact court imposed financial obligations have on defendants and survivors of crime and make recommendations to promote access, fairness, and transparency in the imposition and collection of court imposed financial obligations.
Finally, this Act makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 10, TITLE 11, AND TITLE 21 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO FINES, FEES, COSTS, PENALTIES, AND FORFEITURES. |
