HARRY HUGHES, Governor                                      2569

IN A CASE OF ALLEGED CHILD ABUSE, AS DEFINED IN § 5-901 OF
THE FAMILY LAW ARTICLE OR ARTICLE 27, § 35A OF THE CODE, THE AGE
OR MENTAL CAPACITY OF A CHILD VICTIM MAY NOT PRECLUDE THE CHILD
VICTIM FROM TESTIFYING. IN A CRIMINAL TRIAL, THE AGE OF A CHILD
MAY NOT BE THE SOLE BASIS FOR PRECLUDING THE REASON FOR
PRECLUDING A CHILD FROM TESTIFYING.

SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall
take effect June 1, 1985.

Approved May 28, 1985.

CHAPTER 499
(House Bill 1346)

AN ACT concerning

Child Abuse - Child Victims - Use of
Closed Circuit Television

FOR the purpose of reducing the psychological harm to a child
victim testifying in a child abuse case by allowing a judge
to order the child's testimony to be taken outside the
courtroom and the physical presence of the defendant by
means of closed circuit television under certain
circumstances and subject to certain procedural safeguards
for a defendant; limiting the persons allowed to be present
when a child testifies in this manner; specifying those
persons allowed to question the child; requiring certain
persons operating certain equipment to take certain
precautions; and generally relating to the use of closed
circuit television for the testimony of certain child
witnesses.

BY adding to

Article - Courts and Judicial Proceedings
Section 9-102

Annotated Code of Maryland
(1984 Replacement Volume and 1984 Supplement)

SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
MARYLAND, That the Laws of Maryland read as follows:

Article - Courts and Judicial Proceedings

9-102.