                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

FAMILY VIOLENCE FATALITY REVIEW TEAMS ESTABLISHED; MODEL PROTOCOL AND DATA
MANAGEMENT; MEMBERSHIP; AUTHORITY; CONFIDENTIALITY, ETC (§ 32.1-283.3)

A. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner shall develop a model protocol for
the development and implementation of local family violence fatality review
teams (teams) and such model protocol shall include relevant procedures for
conducting reviews of fatal family violence incidents. A &#8220;fatal family
violence incident&#8221; means any fatality that occurred or that is suspected
of having occurred in the context of abuse between family members or intimate
partners. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner shall provide technical
assistance to the local teams and serve as a clearinghouse for information.

B. Subject to available funding, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner shall
provide ongoing surveillance of fatal family violence occurrences and promulgate
an annual report based on accumulated data.

C. Any county or city, or combination of counties, cities, or counties and
cities, may establish a family violence fatality review team to examine fatal
family violence incidents and to create a body of information to help prevent
future family violence fatalities. The team shall have the authority to review
the facts and circumstances of all fatal family violence incidents that occur
within its designated geographic area.

D. Membership in the team may include, but shall not be limited to, health care
professionals, representatives from the local bar, attorneys for the
Commonwealth, judges, law-enforcement officials, criminologists, medical
examiners appointed pursuant to &#xA7; 32.1-282, other experts in forensic
medicine and pathology, family violence victim advocates, health department
professionals, probation and parole professionals, adult and child protective
services professionals, and representatives of family violence local
coordinating councils.

E. Each team shall establish local rules and procedures to govern the review
process prior to the first fatal family violence incident review conducted. The
review of a death shall be delayed until any criminal investigations or
prosecutions connected with the death are completed.

F. All information and records obtained or created regarding the review of a
fatality shall be confidential and shall be excluded from the Virginia Freedom
of Information Act (&#xA7; 2.2-3700 et seq.) pursuant to subdivision 7 of &#xA7;
2.2-3705.5. All such information and records shall be used by the team only in
the exercise of its proper purpose and function and shall not be disclosed. Such
information or records shall not be subject to subpoena, subpoena duces tecum or
discovery or be admissible in any criminal or civil proceeding. If available
from other sources, however, such information and records shall not be immune
from subpoena, subpoena duces tecum, discovery or introduction into evidence
when obtained through such other sources solely because the information and
records were presented to the team during a fatality review. No person who
participated in the review nor any member of the team shall be required to make
any statement as to what transpired during the review or what information was
collected during the review. Upon the conclusion of the fatality review, all
information and records concerning the victim and the family shall be returned
to the originating agency or destroyed. However, the findings of the team may be
disclosed or published in statistical or other form which shall not identify
individuals. The portions of meetings in which individual cases are discussed by
the team shall be closed pursuant to subdivision A 21 of &#xA7; 2.2-3711. All
team members, persons attending closed team meetings, and persons presenting
information and records on specific fatalities to the team during closed
meetings shall execute a sworn statement to honor the confidentiality of the
information, records, discussions, and opinions disclosed during any closed
meeting to review a specific death. Violations of this subsection are punishable
as a Class 3 misdemeanor.

G. Members of teams, as well as their agents and employees, shall be immune from
civil liability for any act or omission made in connection with participation in
a family violence fatality review, unless such act or omission was the result of
gross negligence or willful misconduct. Any organization, institution, or person
furnishing information, data, testimony, reports or records to review teams as
part of such review, shall be immune from civil liability for any act or
omission in furnishing such information, unless such act or omission was the
result of gross negligence or willful misconduct.

HISTORY: 1999, cc. 849, 868; 2014, c. 583; 2016, c. 307; 2017, c. 778.