NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee legislature has passed a bill that would allow jurors to see photographs of murder victims when they were still alive.
Prosecutors and victims’ rights advocates hailed the passage of the legislation as a return to portraying the dead as more than just a corpse. It comes during National Crimes Victims’ Rights Week.
Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich announced Tuesday’s passage of the legislation in a press release.
She said that for years it was common for prosecutors to show jurors photographs of how victims appeared before a murder, but judges have been banning the practice out of concern that it would lead to some convictions to be overturned.
Weirich said the in-life photographs allow the victims to be seen as more than a piece of evidence.
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Note: It’s HB1342, sponsored by Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver, R-Lancaster, and Sen. Janice Bowling, R-Tullahoma.
