a public defender

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Update (6/6/07): Well, the Senate passed this travesty too, right before the end of the session (11:30pm, to be exact), without debate. It was placed on the darn consent calendar and passed unanimously. I guess it will be up to a court to decide the Constitutionality of this bit of legislation. Any thoughts out there on why it might be unconstitutional? It’s the same provision from the federal Adam Walsh Act.

Late last night, the CT House passed HB 7269 which contains the following new section:

Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2007) Notwithstanding section 54-86a of the general statutes, in any criminal proceeding, any property or material that constitutes child pornography shall remain in the care, custody and control of the state, and a court shall deny any request by the defendant to copy, photograph, duplicate or otherwise reproduce any property or material that constitutes child pornography so long as the attorney for the state makes the property or material reasonably available to the defendant.

Such property or material shall be deemed to be reasonably available to the defendant if the attorney for the state provides the defendant, the defendant’s attorney or any individual the defendant may seek to qualify to furnish expert testimony at trial, ample opportunity for inspection, viewing, and examination of the property or material at a state facility. For the purposes of this section, “child pornography” shall have the same meaning as in section 53a-193 of the general statutes.

This bill is intended to track a similar provision in the federal Adam Walsh Act. I’m not sure why the legislature would feel it necessary to create this section. What if the defense is that the materials in question are digitally created? How will a defense expert be able to verify the authenticity of the documents, deconstruct them and make copies for trial? I’ll be awaiting the transcripts of the debate on this one.

It now heads to the Senate (which thus far has not placed this bill on its calendar for today).