SENATE AMENDMENT

    Bill No. CS for SB 1212, 1st Eng.

    Amendment No.    

                            CHAMBER ACTION
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11  Senator Saunders moved the following amendment:

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13         Senate Amendment (with title amendment) 

14         On page 27, between lines 13 and 14,

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16  insert:

17         Section 23.  Section 90.612, Florida Statutes, is

18  amended to read:

19         90.612  Mode and order of interrogation and

20  presentation.--

21         (1)  The judge shall exercise reasonable control over

22  the mode and order of the interrogation of witnesses and the

23  presentation of evidence, so as to:

24         (a)  Facilitate, through effective interrogation and

25  presentation, the discovery of the truth.

26         (b)  Avoid needless consumption of time.

27         (c)  Protect witnesses from harassment or undue

28  embarrassment.

29         (d)  Take special care to protect a witness under age

30  14 from undue harassment or embarrassment and to restrict the

31  unnecessary repetition of questions. The court shall also take

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                                                  SENATE AMENDMENT

    Bill No. CS for SB 1212, 1st Eng.

    Amendment No.    





 1  special care to ensure that the questions are stated in a form

 2  that is appropriate to the age and understanding of the

 3  witness. The court may, in the interests of justice, on

 4  objection by a party, forbid the asking of a question that is

 5  in a form that can not reasonably be understood by a person of

 6  the age and understanding of the witness.

 7         (2)  Cross-examination of a witness is limited to the

 8  subject matter of the direct examination and matters affecting

 9  the credibility of the witness. The court may, in its

10  discretion, permit inquiry into additional matters.

11         (3)  Leading questions should not be used on the direct

12  examination of a witness except as may be necessary to develop

13  the witness's testimony.  Ordinarily, leading questions should

14  be permitted on cross-examination.  When a party calls a

15  hostile witness, an adverse party, or a witness identified

16  with an adverse party, interrogation may be by leading

17  questions.

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19  (Redesignate subsequent sections.)

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22  ================ T I T L E   A M E N D M E N T ===============

23  And the title is amended as follows:

24         On page 2, line 11, after the semicolon,

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26  insert:

27         amending s. 90.612, F.S.; requiring a judge to

28         protect a witness under a specific age from

29         undue harassment or embarrassment during

30         interrogation and to restrict unnecessary

31         repetition of questions; requiring that

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                                                  SENATE AMENDMENT

    Bill No. CS for SB 1212, 1st Eng.

    Amendment No.    





 1         questions be stated in a form appropriate to

 2         the age and understanding of the witness;

 3         authorizing a court to forbid questions that

 4         are not in a form reasonably understood;

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