Section 455.560

Title XXX DOMESTIC RELATIONS

Chapter 455

Effective - 28 Aug 2018   

  455.560.  Domestic violence fatality review panels, members — report. — 1.  A prosecuting attorney or circuit attorney may impanel a domestic violence fatality review panel for the county or city not within a county in which he or she serves to investigate the deaths of victims of homicides determined to be related to domestic violence, as the term is defined in section 455.010.

  2.  Members of the panel may include any representative of programs or organizations that provide services and responses to victims of domestic violence within the county or city not within a county.  The panel shall include, but shall not be limited to, the following members:

  (1)  The prosecuting or circuit attorney;

  (2)  The coroner or medical examiner for the county or city not within a county;

  (3)  A representative of law enforcement personnel in the county or city not within a county;

  (4)  A provider of public health care services;

  (5)  A provider of emergency medical services or other medical or health care providers;

  (6)  A representative of any victim assistant unit for the prosecuting or circuit attorney, law enforcement organization, or court of the county or city not within a county;

  (7)  A representative of shelters for victims of domestic violence, as defined in section 455.200, or domestic violence services organizations that provide services for victims within the county or city not within a county; and

  (8)  A representative of rape crisis centers, as defined in section 455.003, that provide sexual assault services for victims within the county or city not within a county.

  3.  A prosecuting or circuit attorney shall organize the panel and shall call the first organizational meeting of the panel.  The panel shall elect a chairperson who shall convene the panel to meet to review all deaths of victims of homicides determined to be related to domestic violence.

  4.  The executive officer of any municipality or county may request that a domestic violence fatality review panel be convened in response to any fatality which occurs within the boundaries of the municipality or county.

  5.  Work products of the domestic violence fatality review panel other than the final report required by subsection 6 of this section, including but not limited to internal memoranda, summaries or minutes of panel meetings, and written, audio recorded, or electronic records and communications, are not public records as defined by subdivision (6) of section 610.010 and are not available for public examination, reproduction, or disclosure, and are not admissible as evidence in any civil, criminal, or administrative proceeding.

  6.  The panel shall issue a final report, which shall be a public record as defined by subdivision (6) of section 610.010, of each investigation.  The final report shall include the panel's findings and recommendations for enhanced practices, protocols, and collaborations to address domestic violence and prevent homicides, and a copy shall be provided to the governor, the speaker of the house of representatives, the president pro tempore of the senate, the executive leadership of the government of the political subdivision of the state of Missouri in which the panel operates, and the statewide domestic violence coalition, as such is recognized by the United States Department of Justice and the United States Department of Health and Human Services.  The final report shall also include a summary.

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(L. 2018 H.B. 1355)