HB 0353 2004
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.