HB 1837 - DIGEST

(DIGEST AS ENACTED)

Provides that, on motion of the prosecuting attorney in a criminal proceeding, the court may order that a child under the age of ten may testify in a room outside the presence of the defendant and the jury while one-way closed-circuit television equipment simultaneously projects the child's testimony into another room so the defendant and the jury can watch and hear the child testify if: (1) The testimony will: (a) Describe an act or attempted act of sexual contact performed with or on the child witness by another person or with or on a child other than the child witness by another person; (b) describe an act or attempted act of physical abuse against the child witness by another person or against a child other than the child witness by another person; or (c) describe a violent offense as defined by RCW 9.94A.030 committed against a person known by or familiar to the child witness or by a person known by or familiar to the child witness.

Provides that a child witness may or may not be a victim in the proceeding.

Declares that nothing in this act precludes the court from allowing a child to testify outside the presence of the defendant and the jury so long as the testimony is presented in accordance with the standards and procedures required in this act.