AB 544/SB 517: Changes to "John Doe Law"

This bill would change a law used to pursue accountability for people killed by police by making it harder to bring a complaint against officers claiming self-defense.

Under current law, a District Attorney has the discretion as to whether or not to issue a complaint to charge a person with a crime. Current law also provides that, if a District Attorney refuses to issue a complaint against a person, a judge may conduct a hearing to determine if there is probable cause to believe that the person committed a crime and, if so, issue a complaint. This law has been used in recent years by the families of individuals killed by police in an effort to seek justice when a District Attorney declines to prosecute the police officer involved.

Under this bill, if the DA refused to issue the complaint because the person has a defense of self-defense, the court may not conduct a hearing or issue a complaint unless the court has new evidence that the person's actions were not self-defense under the law.