Pen. Code, § 686.2 · . PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS
Pen. Code, § 686.2
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) The court may, after holding a hearing and making the findings set forth in subdivision (b), order the removal of any spectator who is intimidating a witness.
(b) The court may order the removal of a spectator only if it finds all of the following by clear and convincing evidence:
(1) The spectator to be removed is actually engaging in intimidation of the witness.
(2) The witness will not be able to give full, free, and complete testimony unless the spectator is removed.
(3) Removal of the spectator is the only reasonable means of ensuring that the witness may give full, free, and complete testimony.
(c) Subdivision (a) shall not be used as a means of excluding the press or a defendant from attendance at any portion of a criminal proceeding.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Added by Stats. 1990, Ch. 785, Sec. 1.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN§ionNum=686.2.
- Text hash
- sha256 c107b9694c5749065f5c34edd84a6961cf6e24936b18434d01691c8586b8ca18
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.