Minnesota Session Laws - 1990, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1990 

                        CHAPTER 402-S.F.No. 2432 
           An act relating to crimes; requiring cemetery owners 
          to report unlawful removal of bodies to law 
          enforcement authorities and next of kin of the 
          deceased person; prescribing penalties; amending 
          Minnesota Statutes 1988, section 609.502; Minnesota 
          Statutes 1989 Supplement, section 13.82, subdivision 
          10. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1989 Supplement, section 
13.82, subdivision 10, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 10.  [PROTECTION OF IDENTITIES.] A law enforcement 
agency may withhold public access to data on individuals to 
protect the identity of individuals in the following 
circumstances: 
    (a) When access to the data would reveal the identity of an 
undercover law enforcement officer; 
    (b) When access to the data would reveal the identity of a 
victim of criminal sexual conduct or of a violation of section 
617.246, subdivision 2; 
    (c) When access to the data would reveal the identity of a 
paid or unpaid informant being used by the agency if the agency 
reasonably determines that revealing the identity of the 
informant would threaten the personal safety of the informant; 
or 
    (d) When access to the data would reveal the identity of a 
victim of or witness to a crime if the victim or witness 
specifically requests not to be identified publicly, and the 
agency reasonably determines that revealing the identity of the 
victim or witness would threaten the personal safety or property 
of the individual; or 
    (e) When access to the data would reveal the identity of a 
deceased person whose body was unlawfully removed from a 
cemetery in which it was interred. 
    Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1988, section 609.502, is 
amended to read: 
    609.502 [INTERFERENCE WITH DEAD BODY OR SCENE OF DEATH, 
PENALTY; REPORTING.] 
    Subdivision 1.  [CONCEALING EVIDENCE.] Whoever interferes 
with the body or scene of death with intent to mislead the 
coroner or conceal evidence is guilty of a gross misdemeanor. 
    Subd. 2.  [FAILURE TO REPORT.] (a) A person in charge of a 
cemetery who has knowledge that the body of a deceased person 
interred in the cemetery has been unlawfully removed shall: 
    (1) immediately report the occurrence to local law 
enforcement authorities; and 
    (2) inform the next of kin of the deceased person, if 
known, within three business days of the discovery of the body's 
removal unless the person making the report has been instructed 
in writing by law enforcement authorities that informing the 
next of kin would compromise an active law enforcement 
investigation. 
    (b) A person who violates either clause (1) or (2) is 
guilty of a misdemeanor. 
    Sec. 3.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
    Section 2 is effective August 1, 1990, and applies to 
crimes committed on or after that date. 
    Presented to the governor April 3, 1990 
    Signed by the governor April 4, 1990, 9:58 p.m.