CHAPTER 240
2001-S 628 am
Enacted 07/13/2001


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RELATING TO CRIMINAL PROCEDURE -- CRIMINAL ROYALTIES

Introduced By:  Senator John C. Revens, Jr. Date Introduced:  February 14, 2001

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 12-25.1-2 of the General Laws in Chapter 12-25.1 entitled "Criminal Royalties" is hereby amended to read as follows:

12-25.1-2. Definitions -- For purposes of this chapter:

(1) "Alleged criminally responsible person" means a person who has been indicted or against whom a criminal information has been proffered for the commission of a felony, committed within this state, which caused another person to suffer personal injury or loss of property, but who has not yet been either convicted or acquitted of the charge nor had the charge dismissed;

(2) "Child" means an unmarried person who is under eighteen (18) years of age and includes a stepchild or an adopted child;

(3) "Commercial exploitation" means any significant commercial exploitation by means of any publication, reenactment, dramatization, interview, depiction, explanation, or expression through any medium of communication which is undertaken for financial consideration., except tangential and incidental references to a crime. The term includes, but is not limited to, a movie, book, magazine or newspaper article, tape recording, still photograph, radio or television program, live presentation, or reproduction or presentation of any kind;

(4) "Convicted," means a person who has entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere to a charge of an offense, regardless of the fine, sentence, or other punishment imposed, or who has been found guilty after a trial on a charge of an offense;

(5) "Court" means the superior court;

(6) "Criminally responsible person" means a person who has been convicted of a felony, committed within this state, which caused another person to suffer personal injury or loss of property, or who has been adjudicated not guilty by reason of insanity after a trial on a charge of the offense, or who has voluntarily admitted the commission of the offense;

(7) "Dependent" means a person wholly or partially dependent on the income of the victim at the time of his or her death, or who would have been dependent but for the incapacity due to the injury from which the death resulted, and includes a child of the victim born after the death of the victim;

(8) "Pecuniary loss" includes:

(i) For personal injury:

(A) Medical expenses, including psychiatric care;

(B) Hospital expenses;

(C) Loss of past earnings; and

(D) Loss of future earnings because of a disability resulting from personal injury; and

(ii) For death:

(A) Funeral and burial expenses; and

(B) Loss of support to the dependents of the victim.

(iii) Any other expenses actually and necessarily incurred as a result of the personal injury or death;

(9) "Personal injury" means actual bodily harm, mental or nervous shock, or a pregnancy;

(10) "Relative" means a spouse, parent, grandparent, stepfather, stepmother, child, grandchild, brother, sister, half brother, half sister, and a spouse's parents; and

(11) "Victim" means a person who suffers personal injury or loss of property as a direct result of the conduct of another person in perpetration of a criminal offense.

SECTION 2. Chapter 12-25.1 of the General Laws entitled "Criminal Royalties" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following section:

12-25.1-4.1. Assets available. -- A victim, his or her guardian, or in the case of a deceased victim, his or her legal representative, in addition to any rights conveyed pursuant to this chapter, may seek recovery from any of the criminally responsible person's assets. A victim may proceed against the defendant's assets, whether or not these assets represent royalties obtained from the commercial exploitation of the crime.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage.


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