Families urge passage of "Aubrey's Law" to guarantee victim impact statements when defendants don't appear

Senate Bill 9, presented by Senator Brown and referred to in testimony as "Aubrey's Law," would permit victims and family members to deliver victim impact statements when a defendant fails to appear for sentencing or related proceedings.

Multiple family members of victims gave emotional testimony explaining why the bill was drafted. Kaylee Richardson said her family was forced to deliver victim statements to an empty chair following a murder trial, calling that experience devastating and describing the bill as a way to restore victims' voice. "By passing Senate Bill 9, Aubrey's Law, you would be removing the power of the convicted and returning it to the victims," she said.

Justin Moore and Jen Moore also described the loss of family members and urged the committee to advance the bill so that future victims and families would not be denied the opportunity for in-person impact statements. Senator Brown said the bill is designed to give families closure and that he is willing to clean up language about hearings and failure-to-appear procedures.

Committee members raised technical and definitional questions, including concerns about multiple statutory definitions of "victim" and whether the bill's process language could unintentionally create confusion (for instance, mixing contempt procedures and criminal failure-to-appear processes). The sponsor agreed to hold the bill for the committee to refine definitions and for staff to review vocabulary and procedure alignment.

The committee did not vote on the bill at the hearing and will reopen the measure after staff and sponsors reconcile statutory language.