Legislature(1993 - 1994)
1994-03-09 Senate Journal
No results found showing results without SB%20351
Full Journal pdf1994-03-09 Senate Journal Page 3113 SB 351 was read the first time and referred to the State Affairs and Judiciary Committees. Zero fiscal notes published today from Department of Administration (2), Department of Law, Department of Public Safety. Governor's transmittal letter dated March 9: Dear Mr. President: Under the authority of art. III, sec. 18, of the Alaska Constitution, I am transmitting a bill that amends Alaska Rule of Evidence 404 in several respects to help protect the victims of crimes in this state. In far too many cases of sexual assault, domestic violence, and child sexual abuse, Alaska's victims are often themselves "put on trial" in the course of criminal proceedings. The emotional trauma that such crime victims routinely suffer in the criminal justice system can in some cases be nearly as traumatic as the crime itself. Therefore, in order to address these problems and to better protect Alaska's citizenry, especially women and children who are frequently the victims of these crimes, we have proposed three changes to Rule of Evidence 404 which are intended to accomplish the following three goals. The first goal is to reduce the number of times a sexual assault victim is "put on trial" by authorizing the admission into evidence of other sexual assaults or attempted sexual assaults by the defendant if the defendant claims that the victim voluntarily "consented" to the sexual activity. When a defendant argues that the victim consented, the prosecution should be permitted to stand up for the victim and rebut this claim by introducing evidence to the jury that the defendant has sexually assaulted or attempted to sexually assault other victims in the past.