Louisiana Lawmakers Send 'Caylee's Law' Bills to Jindal - KATC

Louisiana Lawmakers Send 'Caylee's Law' Bills to Jindal

Posted: Jun 2, 2012 2:37 PM
by Sharlee Barriere

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Casey Anthony's trial and subsequent acquittal are leading to changes in Louisiana law with a pair of bills that would penalize caretakers who fail to report or give false information to law enforcement officials regarding missing or dead children.

The bills are heading to Gov. Bobby Jindal's desk and he intends to sign them into law.

The measures by Rep. Barbara Norton and Sen. Bob Kostelka will make it a misdemeanor crime for caretakers to falsify information to police during a missing child investigation. They also make it a crime to fail to report a missing or dead child, with jail sentences ranging up to 50 years.

Both lawmakers say the bills were proposed in response to the 2008 death of Florida toddler Caylee Anthony, who wasn't reported missing for 31 days. Her body was found in the woods near her grandparent's home six months after she was reported missing in Orlando. Last year, a jury found her mother, Casey Anthony, not guilty in the child's death.

Soon after Casey Anthony's acquittal, Florida passed a law increasing the maximum penalty from one year to five years in prison for knowingly making false statements to police about a missing child. The legislation was followed by a wave of other states putting their own versions of "Caylee's Law" into the works.

Kostelka said he wanted to address "what happened in Florida earlier, where the child was missing and finally found dead and they couldn't prosecute the mother, or whoever was responsible, because just not reporting the child was nothing more than a misdemeanor."

At least three states have enacted similar laws and 32 others have filed related bills, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Kostelka, R-Monroe, said his bill makes it a felony to not report a missing child within 14 hours if the child is under 13 years old or within 24 hours if the child is older.

If the caretaker violates those provisions and the child is found dead, the caretaker can be imprisoned for up to 50 years and face a fine up to $50,000. But if the child is found unharmed, the caretaker could face up to six months in jail or a $500 fine.

Offenders will face up to 10 years in prison if the child was physically or sexually abused or if they remain missing for more than six months.

The measures also require caretakers to report the death of a child no more than an hour after the death is discovered.

Casey Anthony was found guilty of four misdemeanor counts of lying to investigators and completed her four-year maximum sentence while awaiting trial on her murder charge. Had Florida's new law been in effect at the time, she could have served up to 20 years in prison.

Norton, D-Shreveport, said the bill should have been proposed years ago because lawmakers have a responsibility to shelter the children of their state.

"It's so important that we know where our children are and that we do everything we can do to protect our children," she said.

http://www.katc.com/news/louisiana-lawmakers-send-caylee-s-law-bills-to-jindal/