Delaware House Bill 108 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: Introduced on April 2 2009 - 25% progression, died in committee
Action: 2009-04-02 - Introduced and Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House
Pending: House Judiciary Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Draft #1) [HTML]

This Act increases the penalties for failure to appear at trial. Under present law it is often to a defendant’s advantage not to appear for trial, as the State’s witnesses often become less cooperative the more often they are required to appear. The longer the defendant is a fugitive, the less likely the State will be able to go forward with its case. The penalties for failure to appear at trial ought to be sufficient to encourage the defendant to appear as required. This Act also makes necessary and complimentary changes to the criminal contempt provisions of the Criminal Code so that the courts retain their power to impose contempt penalties for failure to appear at proceedings other than trial.

An Act To Amend Title 11 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Failure To Appear At Trial.

Rep. Gerald Brady [D]	Sen. Brian Bushweller [D]	Sen. Gerald Hocker [R]	Rep. Joseph Miro [R]
Rep. John Mitchell [D]

Date	Chamber	Action
2009-04-02		Introduced and Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House

Type	Source
Summary	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis145.nsf/2bede841c6272c888025698400433a04/ca5eb8e19d466a7585257571006f277a?OpenDocument
Text	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis146.nsf/vwLegislation/HB+108/$file/legis.html?open