HB 586 -- Depositions in Criminal Cases Co-Sponsors: Lipke (157), Hanaway, Crowell, Kingery, Jetton, Goodman, Stevenson This bill limits the depositions that a prosecutor may take in a criminal case. A prosecutor may depose only essential witnesses. An essential witness, defined in Section 492.303, RSMo, is an eyewitness to a felony or a witness whose testimony would establish an element of the felony that cannot be proven in any other manner.Copyright (c) Missouri House of Representatives