House Bill 0333c1

    Florida House of Representatives - 2000              CS/HB 333

        By the Committee on Crime & Punishment and Representative
    Crist





  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to criminal liability for

  3         failure to report a crime; creating s. 877.31,

  4         F.S.; creating the "Nicholas Isaac Cordero

  5         Act"; requiring that a person who knows that a

  6         crime is being committed must report the crime

  7         to a law enforcement officer, under specified

  8         circumstances, if the crime exposes the victim

  9         to serious bodily injury likely to cause death;

10         providing penalties; providing for

11         construction; providing an effective date.

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13  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

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15         Section 1.  Section 877.31, Florida Statutes, is

16  created to read:

17         877.31  Legal duty to report a crime exposing the

18  victim to serious bodily injury; penalties for failure to

19  report; construction.--

20         (1)  This section may be cited as the "Nicholas Isaac

21  Cordero Act."

22         (2)  A person who knows that a crime that exposes the

23  victim to serious bodily injury likely to cause death is being

24  committed must report the crime to a law enforcement officer

25  within 48 hours after the offense is committed to the extent

26  that the report can be made without danger to the person

27  reporting or to another person. Any person who violates this

28  subsection commits a misdemeanor of the second degree,

29  punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.

30         (3)  This section does not apply to a person who is:

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida House of Representatives - 2000              CS/HB 333

    189-893A-00






  1         (a)  Prosecuted as a principal in the first degree or

  2  as an accessory after the fact to an offense;

  3         (b)  Prosecuted for attempting, soliciting, or

  4  conspiring to commit an offense, when the prosecuted offense

  5  occurred in the course of the same criminal conduct,

  6  transaction, or episode as the criminal offense that exposed

  7  the victim to serious bodily injury;

  8         (c)  Related by blood or marriage to the principal or

  9  victim of an episode that exposes the victim to serious bodily

10  injury; or

11         (d)  A victim of serious bodily injury.

12         Section 2.  This act shall take effect October 1, 2000.

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