HB 5870 Summary

• Amends the Revised Judicature Act to expand protections and procedures for child and developmentally disabled witnesses in criminal prosecutions involving child abuse, criminal sexual conduct, and related offenses.

• Allows videorecorded statements of qualifying witnesses (persons under 16 years old or those 16+ with developmental disabilities) to be taken before preliminary examination and used for impeachment, sentencing, guilty pleas, probation violation hearings, and child protection proceedings, but not as a substitute for live testimony at preliminary examination.

• Permits qualifying witnesses to use anatomically correct dolls or mannequins during testimony and to have a named support person sit with them during court proceedings, with required advance notice to all parties.

• Establishes special courtroom arrangements upon court order to protect witness welfare, including excluding unnecessary persons, positioning defendant away from witness stand, and using closed-circuit television broadcast to the public at trial.

• Allows videorecorded depositions to substitute for live testimony when the court finds a witness is psychologically or emotionally unable to testify in court, with examination and cross-examination proceeding as if witness were present.

• Prohibits unauthorized release of videorecorded statements; violation is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 1 year imprisonment or $1,000 fine; requires court retention of statements for at least 1 year after case resolution.