California statute
Cal. Penal Code § 152
Current through 2025–2026 Regular Session (leginfo weekly dump, 2026-07-12)
Part of Chapter 7: Other Offenses Against Public Justice, California Penal Code.
Full text of Cal. Penal Code § 152
Statutory text current through the 2025–2026 Regular Session (leginfo weekly dump, 2026-07-12). This publication reproduces the official statutory text; it is not the official statutes of the State of California.
(a) Every person who, having knowledge of an accidental death, actively conceals or attempts to conceal that death, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year, or by a fine of not less than one thousand dollars ($1,000) nor more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment. (b) For purposes of this section, “to actively conceal an accidental death” means any of the following: (1) To perform an overt act that conceals the body or directly impedes the ability of authorities or family members to discover the body. (2) To directly destroy or suppress evidence of the actual physical body of the deceased, including, but not limited to, bodily fluids or tissues. (3) To destroy or suppress the actual physical instrumentality of death.
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