Louisiana Children’s Code 328.1 – Admissibility in civil, family, and administrative proceedings; discovery; confidentiality
Terms Used In Louisiana Children's Code 328.1
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
- Subpoena duces tecum: A command to a witness to produce documents.
- Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
- Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
A.(1) A court with civil or family jurisdiction or an administrative law judge may authorize the issuance of a subpoena duces tecum for the production of a videotape of a protected person made pursuant to this Article for good cause shown. The subpoena duces tecum shall order that the videotape of the protected person be returnable to the court for inspection. If the court determines that the videotape is relevant and necessary to the case under review, the court may order in writing that the videotape be disclosed to the attorneys of record for each party, subject to a protective order pursuant to Subparagraph (2) of this Paragraph.
(2) The protective order shall include all of the following information:
(a) Names of the attorneys of record in the case and their regularly employed staff, paralegal, or expert witnesses, who are the only individuals permitted to view or be in possession of the videotape.
(b) The videotape is in the exclusive custody of the court and that the videotape shall not be copied, photographed, duplicated, or otherwise reproduced except as a written transcript that protects the identity of the protected person by the use of initials.
(c) If the party is not represented by an attorney, the party and the employees or retained expert witnesses of the party shall not be given a copy of the videotape but shall be given reasonable access to view the recording by the custodian of the recording.
(d) Attorneys and custodians of the videotape shall file their copy of the videotape under seal into the record of the proceedings upon termination of representation or upon disposition of the matter at the trial level.
(e) The unlawful possession, selling, duplicating, distributing, transferring, or copying of any videotape of protected persons is punishable pursuant to La. Rev. Stat. 14:81.5.
B. Any violation of this Article shall be punished as contempt of court.
C. Nothing in this Article is intended to restrict the ability of the Department of Children and Family Services or law enforcement from sharing information as authorized or required by state or federal law.
Acts 2024, No. 654, §2.