HB 1369 2003
   
1 A bill to be entitled
2          An act relating to criminal liability for failure to
3    report a crime; creating s. 877.31, F.S.; creating the
4    "Nicholas Isaac Cordero Act"; requiring a person who knows
5    that a crime is being committed to report the crime to a
6    law enforcement officer, under specified circumstances, if
7    the crime exposes the victim to serious bodily injury
8    likely to cause death; providing penalties; providing
9    exceptions; providing an effective date.
10         
11          Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
12         
13          Section 1. Section 877.31, Florida Statutes, is created to
14    read:
15          877.31 Legal duty to report a crime exposing the victim to
16    serious bodily injury likely to cause death; penalties for
17    failure to report; exceptions.--
18          (1) This section may be referred to by the popular name
19    the "Nicholas Isaac Cordero Act."
20          (2) A person who knows that a crime is being committed
21    which exposes the victim to serious bodily injury likely to
22    cause death must report the crime to a law enforcement officer
23    within 48 hours after the offense is committed to the extent
24    that the report can be made without danger to the person
25    reporting or to another person. Any person who violates this
26    subsection commits a misdemeanor of the second degree,
27    punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.
28          (3) This section does not apply to a person who is:
29          (a) Prosecuted as a principal in the first degree or as an
30    accessory after the fact to an offense;
31          (b) Prosecuted for attempting, soliciting, or conspiring
32    to commit an offense, when the prosecuted offense occurred in
33    the course of the same criminal conduct, transaction, or episode
34    as the criminal offense that exposed the victim to serious
35    bodily injury;
36          (c) Related by blood or marriage to the principal or
37    victim of an episode that exposes the victim to serious bodily
38    injury; or
39          (d) A victim of serious bodily injury.
40          Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.