Florida Senate - 2024                                     SB 358
       
       
        
       By Senator Book
       
       
       
       
       
       35-00437-24                                            2024358__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to custodial interrogations of minors;
    3         creating s. 900.06, F.S.; defining terms; providing a
    4         presumption of inadmissibility for confessions of
    5         certain minors which are made as a result of a
    6         custodial interrogation at a place of detention if a
    7         law enforcement officer engages in deception;
    8         specifying circumstances under which the presumption
    9         may be overcome; providing that the state attorney has
   10         the burden of proving that such confessions were
   11         voluntary; requiring that certain objections be made
   12         in the trial court; providing an effective date.
   13          
   14  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   15  
   16         Section 1. Section 900.06, Florida Statutes, is created to
   17  read:
   18         900.06 Deceptive tactics during custodial interrogations of
   19  minors prohibited; presumption of inadmissibility.—
   20         (1) As used in this section, the term:
   21         (a) “Custodial interrogation” means questioning or other
   22  conduct by a law enforcement officer which is reasonably likely
   23  to elicit an incriminating response from an individual and which
   24  occurs under circumstances in which a reasonable individual in
   25  the same circumstances would consider himself or herself to be
   26  in the custody of a law enforcement agency.
   27         (b) “Deception” means the knowing communication of false
   28  facts about evidence or unauthorized statements regarding
   29  leniency by a law enforcement officer to the subject of a
   30  custodial interrogation.
   31         (c) “Place of detention” means a police station, sheriff’s
   32  office, correctional facility, prisoner holding facility, county
   33  detention facility, or other governmental facility where a minor
   34  may be held in connection with a criminal charge or a petition
   35  for delinquency that has been or may be filed against the minor.
   36         (2) An oral, written, or sign language confession of an
   37  individual who was younger than 18 years of age at the time of
   38  the commission of the offense, which confession is made as a
   39  result of a custodial interrogation conducted at a place of
   40  detention, is presumed to be inadmissible as evidence against
   41  the minor making the confession in any criminal proceeding or
   42  any juvenile court proceeding if, during the custodial
   43  interrogation, a law enforcement officer engages in deception.
   44         (3) The presumption of inadmissibility of a confession
   45  under subsection (2) may be overcome by a preponderance of the
   46  evidence that the confession was voluntarily given, based on the
   47  totality of the circumstances.
   48         (4) The state attorney has the burden of proving that a
   49  confession was voluntary. Any objection to the failure of the
   50  state to call all material witnesses on the issue of whether the
   51  confession was voluntary must be made in the trial court.
   52         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.