Pen. Code, § 939.21 · Article 4. Conduct of Investigations
Pen. Code, § 939.21
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) Any prosecution witness before the grand jury in a proceeding involving a violation of Section 243.4, 261, 273a, 273d, 285, 286, 287, 288, 288.5, or 289, subdivision (1) of Section 314, Section 368, 647.6, or former Section 288a or 647a, who is a minor or a dependent person, may, at the discretion of the prosecution, select a person of his or her own choice to attend the testimony of the prosecution witness for the purpose of providing support. The person chosen shall not be a witness in the same proceeding, or a person described in Section 1070 of the Evidence Code.
(b) The grand jury foreperson shall inform any person permitted to attend the grand jury proceedings pursuant to this section that grand jury proceedings are confidential and may not be discussed with anyone not in attendance at the proceedings. The foreperson also shall admonish that person not to prompt, sway, or influence the witness in any way. Nothing in this section shall preclude the presiding judge from exercising his or her discretion to remove a person from the grand jury proceeding whom the judge believes is prompting, swaying, or influencing the witness.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2018, Ch. 423, Sec. 82. (SB 1494) Effective January 1, 2019.
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=939.21.
- Text hash
- sha256 596aad8d3448c03c3664ff58ef631db281d5079c6dad7eabc5a54c9a6f154c66
- 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
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Penal Code
- Pen. Code, § 243.4Printed as Section 243.4, 261, 273a, 273d, 285, 286, 287, 288, 288.5, or 289
- Pen. Code, § 261Printed as Section 243.4, 261, 273a, 273d, 285, 286, 287, 288, 288.5, or 289
- Pen. Code, § 273aPrinted as Section 243.4, 261, 273a, 273d, 285, 286, 287, 288, 288.5, or 289
- Pen. Code, § 273dPrinted as Section 243.4, 261, 273a, 273d, 285, 286, 287, 288, 288.5, or 289
- Pen. Code, § 285Printed as Section 243.4, 261, 273a, 273d, 285, 286, 287, 288, 288.5, or 289
- Pen. Code, § 286Printed as Section 243.4, 261, 273a, 273d, 285, 286, 287, 288, 288.5, or 289
- Pen. Code, § 287Printed as Section 243.4, 261, 273a, 273d, 285, 286, 287, 288, 288.5, or 289
- Pen. Code, § 288Printed as Section 243.4, 261, 273a, 273d, 285, 286, 287, 288, 288.5, or 289
- Pen. Code, § 288.5Printed as Section 243.4, 261, 273a, 273d, 285, 286, 287, 288, 288.5, or 289
- Pen. Code, § 289Printed as Section 243.4, 261, 273a, 273d, 285, 286, 287, 288, 288.5, or 289
- Pen. Code, § 314Printed as Section 314
- Pen. Code, § 368Printed as Section 368, 647.6
- Pen. Code, § 647.6Printed as Section 368, 647.6
Cited by 1 provision
Provisions in this library whose text cites Pen. Code, § 939.21. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
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