By Place H.B. No. 261
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the requirement of corroboration of testimony in the
1-3 prosecution of certain offenses.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Article 38.07, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
1-6 amended to read as follows:
1-7 Art. 38.07. TESTIMONY IN CORROBORATION OF VICTIM OF SEXUAL
1-8 OFFENSE NOT REQUIRED. Unless otherwise expressly required by the
1-9 Constitution or statutes of the State of Texas or the Constitution
1-10 and laws of the United States of America, a conviction for any
1-11 offense under Chapter 21, Section 22.011, or Section 22.021, Penal
1-12 Code, is supportable on the uncorroborated testimony of a victim of
1-13 the offense, and the victim may not be considered or treated as an
1-14 accomplice under Article 38.14 of this code <A conviction under
1-15 Chapter 21, Section 22.011, or Section 22.021, Penal Code, is
1-16 supportable on the uncorroborated testimony of the victim of the
1-17 sexual offense if the victim informed any person, other than the
1-18 defendant, of the alleged offense within six months after the date
1-19 on which the offense is alleged to have occurred. The requirement
1-20 that the victim inform another person of an alleged offense does
1-21 not apply if the victim was younger than 14 years of age at the
1-22 time of the alleged offense. The court shall instruct the jury
1-23 that the time which lapsed between the alleged offense and the time
1-24 it was reported shall be considered by the jury only for the
2-1 purpose of assessing the weight to be given to the testimony of the
2-2 victim>.
2-3 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
2-4 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-5 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-6 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-7 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-8 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-9 passage, and it is so enacted.