By: Brown S.B. No. 1288
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the admissibility of evidence at the punishment stage
1-2 of a criminal trial.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 3, Article 37.07, Code of
1-5 Criminal Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
1-6 (a) Regardless of the plea and whether the punishment be
1-7 assessed by the judge or the jury, evidence may<, as permitted by
1-8 the Rules of Evidence,> be offered by the state and the defendant
1-9 as to any matter the court deems relevant to sentencing, including
1-10 but not limited to the prior criminal record of the defendant, his
1-11 general reputation, <and> his character, an opinion regarding his
1-12 character, the circumstances of the offense for which he is being
1-13 tried, and, notwithstanding Rules 404 and 405, Texas Rules of
1-14 Criminal Evidence, any other evidence of an extraneous crime or bad
1-15 act that is shown beyond a reasonable doubt to have been committed
1-16 by the defendant or for which he could be held criminally
1-17 responsible, regardless of whether he has previously been charged
1-18 with or finally convicted of the crime or act. On timely request
1-19 by the defendant, the state shall provide reasonable notice of its
1-20 intent to introduce evidence under this article. The notice shall
1-21 be given not less than 10 days prior to the beginning of the trial.
1-22 If the state intends to introduce evidence of extraneous crimes or
1-23 bad acts which have not resulted in a final conviction in a court
1-24 of record or a probated or suspended sentence, the notice shall be
2-1 sufficient if it includes the date and county where the act
2-2 allegedly occurred and the name of the alleged victim, if any.
2-3 <The term prior criminal record means a final conviction in a court
2-4 of record, or a probated or suspended sentence that has occurred
2-5 prior to trial, or any final conviction material to the offense
2-6 charged.> A court may consider as a factor in mitigating
2-7 punishment the conduct of a defendant while participating in a
2-8 program under Article 17.40 or 17.42(a) of this code as a condition
2-9 of release on bail. Additionally, notwithstanding Rule 609(d),
2-10 Texas Rules of Criminal Evidence, evidence may be offered by the
2-11 state and the defendant of an adjudication of delinquency based on
2-12 a violation by the defendant of a penal law of the grade of felony
2-13 unless:
2-14 (1) the adjudication is based on conduct committed
2-15 more than five years before the commission of the offense for which
2-16 the person is being tried; and
2-17 (2) in the five years preceding the date of the
2-18 commission of the offense for which the person is being tried, the
2-19 person did not engage in conduct for which the person has been
2-20 adjudicated as a delinquent child or a child in need of supervision
2-21 and did not commit an offense for which the person has been
2-22 convicted.
2-23 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
2-24 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-25 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-26 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-27 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-1 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-2 passage, and it is so enacted.