SB 793 - This act provides that a special prosecutor appointed because the prosecutor and assistant prosecutor have a conflict of interest may not be employed by anyone except the state in any criminal proceeding. It also specifies that a special prosecutor is to be considered an appointed prosecutor for purposes of a statute making it a misdemeanor for a prosecutor to engage in such employment. Under this act, the same judge can hear a preliminary hearing and the trial of a felony case if the defendant has signed a written waiver permitting the same judge to hear both.
This act provides that motions or objections to exclude evidence because it was unlawfully obtained are inapplicable to preliminary hearings. In addition, this act requires findings by the court in preliminary hearings to be based on substantial evidence, and provides that such evidence may include certain forms of hearsay.
Under current law, the state is liable for costs in death penalty cases and cases in which imprisonment in the penitentiary is the sole punishment when the defendant is acquitted. The prosecutor is liable for costs in felony cases when a person is committed, but no indictment is issued. In all other cases, the county is liable for the costs.
This act provides that the state is liable for the costs in all cases in which the defendant is acquitted or an indictment is not issued.
Provisions of this act are similar to provisions of the truly agreed to and finally passed CCS2/HCS/SB 621 (2014).
MEGHAN LUECKE