Sec. 15. (1) The victim has the right to appear and make an oral impact statement at the sentencing of the defendant. If the victim is physically or emotionally unable to make the oral impact statement, the victim may designate any other person 18 years of age or older who is neither the defendant nor incarcerated to make the statement on the victim's behalf. The other person need not be an attorney. The victim may elect to remotely provide the oral impact statement under this section. (2) Unless the court has determined, in its discretion, that the defendant is behaving in a disruptive manner or presents a threat to the safety of any individuals present in the courtroom, the defendant must be physically present in the courtroom at the time a victim makes an oral impact statement under subsection (1). In making its determination under this subsection, the court may consider any relevant statement provided by the victim regarding the defendant being physically present during that victim's oral impact statement. This subsection applies to cases in which the sentencing of the defendant occurs after May 22, 2018. (3) 2018 PA 153, which amended this section and sections 43 and 75, may be cited as the "Rebekah Bletsch law".
Mich. Comp. Laws § 780.765
Oral impact statement at sentencing; physical presence of defendant; remote option; 2018 PA 153 may be cited as "Rebekah Bletsch law"
Applied in 8 court decisions — leading case People v. Cobbs (1993)
Most recently applied in 324 Mich. App. 130 - People of Michigan v. William Lawrence Rucker (May 2018)
1985, Act 87, Eff
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Michigan Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Michigan statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.