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§ 18-6-401.1. Child abuse - limitation for commencing proceedings - evidence - statutory privilege

CO Rev Stat § 18-6-401.1 (2018) (N/A)
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(1) For the purposes of this section, "child abuse" means child abuse as defined in section 18-6-401 (1).

(2) No person shall be prosecuted, tried, or punished for an act of child abuse other than the misdemeanor offenses specified in section 18-6-401 (7)(a)(V), (7)(a)(VI), and (7)(b), unless the indictment, information, complaint, or action for the same is found or instituted within ten years after commission of the offense. No person shall be prosecuted, tried, or punished for the misdemeanor offenses specified in section 18-6-401 (7)(a)(V), (7)(a)(VI), and (7)(b), unless the indictment, information, complaint, or action for the same is found or instituted within five years after the commission of the offense.

(3) Out-of-court statements made by a child describing any act of child abuse performed on the child declarant, not otherwise admissible by a statute or court rule which provides an exception to the objection of hearsay, may be admissible in any proceeding in which the child is a victim of an act of child abuse pursuant to the provisions of section 13-25-129, C.R.S.

(4) All cases involving the commission of an act of child abuse shall take precedence before the court; the court shall hear these cases as soon as possible after they are filed.

(5) The statutory privilege between the victim-patient and his physician and between the husband and the wife shall not be available for excluding or refusing testimony in any prosecution of an act of child abuse.

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§ 18-6-401. Child abuse- definition
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