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History
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Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Provides for evidentiary treatment of informant testimony
Senate Floor Calendar · Sponsor Thomas K. Duane
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:A11089
Title of bill
An act to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to informant testimony
Purpose or general idea of bill
This bill would amend the Criminal Procedure Law to provide for the evidentiary treatment of informant testimony.
Summary of specific provisions
Section 1 of the bill adds a new §60.77 to the Criminal Procedure Law to provide for the evidentiary treatment of informant testimony.
Justification
This is one of six bills that are based on the recommen- dations of the Task Force on Wrongful Convictions of the New York State Bar Association. That Task Force was created in 2008, and examined 53 cases where a defendant was wrongfully convicted of a crime and, later exonerated, Through this study, the Task Force identified what it found to be the causes of these mistakes. In report was approved by the Bar Association in 2009, and this bill is intended to address one of the causes that were so identified.
A large percentage of cases in which wrongful convictions have been documented involve testimony from informants who are themselves in-cus- tody or facing criminal prosecution or otherwise receiving incentives such as financial payments for their testimony. Most studies have found that 50% of wrongful murder convictions involve perjury by someone such as a "jailhouse snitch" or a witness who stood to gain from giving false testimony. This testimony is from a participant in a crime who is will- ing to implicate others in return for a favorable disposition of the charges relating to his or her participation, or an individual who was not a participant in the crime in question but who asserts that he or she has been told about the crime by one of the participants and who is willing to testify about those conversation in exchange for some bene- fit, usually a favorable disposition with respect to unrelated charges pending against the informant.
This bill would require that an informant's testimony be corroborated, jury instructions should be given regarding reliability, and disclosure by the prosecutor prior to the acceptance of a plea bargain by the defendant.
Prior legislative history
New bill.
Fiscal implications
To be determined.
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become a law and shall apply to any criminal proceeding commenced on or after such date.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.