Several bills were signed into law by Governor Kim Reynolds this year increasing penalties for sexual assault crimes and helping victims, including one related to pretrial contact between a prosecuting witness and a defendant.

House File 709 states that a prosecuting witness who is a minor has the right to have an interview or deposition taken outside the presence of a defendant. Rape Victim Advocacy Program Rural County Services Coordinator Deanna Hansen works with sexual assault victims in Washington County, and she shares how this new law will affect prosecuting cases moving forward, “Right now depositions are taken, you’re just at a table and right across from the victim or the witness is the defense attorney and then right next to the defense attorney is the perpetrator. So it’s really hard for any victim, but especially child victims, to have to get up and be that close to their perpetrator and talk about what they did. So this is going to reduce extra exposure to trauma and they’re going to be able to tell what happened to them without having that perpetrator staring right at them.”

Under the new law, the interview or deposition may be televised by closed-circuit equipment to a room where the defendant can view the interview or deposition and can communicate with their counsel by an appropriate electronic method without having contact with the minor. Washington County Attorney John Gish believes this is a huge win for child victims of sexual abuse.