Saturday, November 22, 2008

Hearsay Bill Passes


On Wednesday, the Illinois House of Representatives, on a 109 to 0 vote, passed a bill that will allow hearsay evidence in a murder trial if the prosecution can prove to a judge by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant killed the witness so as to prevent that witness from testifying against them. The vote in the Illinois House followed approval from the Illinois Senate a week earlier. Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich had proposed that the law become effective as soon as the Illinois House approves the legislation.

We initially reported on this legislation on a blog on August 22, 2008. We posted another blog on October 11, 2008 discussing a problem with the wording of the legislation which required that Governor Blagojevich veto the bill. This passage by the Illinois House means that this bill is now the law in Illinois.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

1 comment:

James G. Dimeas said...

Peterson's attorneys have filed a motion in Will County challenging this new law. We posted a blog about this challenge on 8/12/09. Here's a link to that blog: http://legaldefenders.blogspot.com/2009/08/peterson-challenges-new-hearsay-law.html

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