By Brady H.B. No. 2798
74R6728 NSC-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the sealing and destruction of juvenile records and to
1-3 the use of juvenile records in a criminal prosecution.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Sections 51.16(i), (j), (k), and (l), Family
1-6 Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-7 (i) Except as provided by Subsection (j) of this section, on
1-8 the motion of a person in whose name files and records are kept or
1-9 on the court's own motion, the court may order the destruction of
1-10 all files and records concerning a person who has been adjudicated
1-11 to be a child in need of supervision <or a delinquent child> if:
1-12 (1) seven years have elapsed since the child's 16th
1-13 birthday; and
1-14 (2) the person has not been convicted of a felony or a
1-15 misdemeanor.
1-16 (j) A court may not order under this section the destruction
1-17 of files and records concerning a person adjudicated as having
1-18 engaged in delinquent conduct or conduct indicating a need for
1-19 supervision that violated a penal law <of the grade of felony>.
1-20 (k) A court may not order under this section the sealing of
1-21 files and records concerning a person adjudicated as having engaged
1-22 in delinquent conduct or conduct indicating a need for supervision
1-23 that violated a penal law <of the grade of felony> unless:
1-24 (1) the person is 23 years of age or older;
2-1 (2) the files and records have not been:
2-2 (A) made a part of the person's adult record as
2-3 a result of the use of the files or records after the juvenile
2-4 court under Section 54.02 of this code transferred the person to a
2-5 criminal court for prosecution; or
2-6 (B) used as evidence in the punishment phase of
2-7 a criminal proceeding under Section 3(a), Article 37.07, Code of
2-8 Criminal Procedure; and
2-9 (3) the person has not been convicted of an offense <a
2-10 penal law of the grade of felony> after becoming age 17.
2-11 (l) A prosecuting attorney may, by motion before a juvenile
2-12 court, reopen at any time the files and records of a person
2-13 adjudicated as having engaged in delinquent conduct or conduct
2-14 indicating a need for supervision that violated a penal law <of the
2-15 grade of felony> sealed by the court under Subsection (k) <of this
2-16 section> if, after the court ordered the sealing, the person is
2-17 indicted for or charged with a criminal offense <that occurred
2-18 before the person's 23rd birthday or at any time is charged with a
2-19 capital offense or a felony of the first degree>.
2-20 SECTION 2. Section 3(a), Article 37.07, Code of Criminal
2-21 Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
2-22 (a) Regardless of the plea and whether the punishment be
2-23 assessed by the judge or the jury, evidence may be offered by the
2-24 state and the defendant as to any matter the court deems relevant
2-25 to sentencing, including but not limited to the prior criminal
2-26 record of the defendant, his general reputation, his character, an
2-27 opinion regarding his character, the circumstances of the offense
3-1 for which he is being tried, and, notwithstanding Rules 404 and
3-2 405, Texas Rules of Criminal Evidence, any other evidence of an
3-3 extraneous crime or bad act that is shown beyond a reasonable doubt
3-4 by evidence to have been committed by the defendant or for which he
3-5 could be held criminally responsible, regardless of whether he has
3-6 previously been charged with or finally convicted of the crime or
3-7 act. A court may consider as a factor in mitigating punishment
3-8 the conduct of a defendant while participating in a program under
3-9 Chapter 17 of this code as a condition of release on bail.
3-10 Additionally, notwithstanding Rule 609(d), Texas Rules of Criminal
3-11 Evidence, evidence may be offered by the state and the defendant of
3-12 an adjudication as having engaged in delinquent conduct or conduct
3-13 indicating a need for supervision <of delinquency> based on a
3-14 violation by the defendant of a penal law <of the grade of felony
3-15 unless:>
3-16 <(1) the adjudication is based on conduct committed
3-17 more than five years before the commission of the offense for which
3-18 the person is being tried; and>
3-19 <(2) in the five years preceding the date of the
3-20 commission of the offense for which the person is being tried, the
3-21 person did not engage in conduct for which the person has been
3-22 adjudicated as a delinquent child or a child in need of supervision
3-23 and did not commit an offense for which the person has been
3-24 convicted>.
3-25 SECTION 3. (a) The change in law made by this Act applies
3-26 only to files or records relating to conduct violating a penal law
3-27 that occurs on or after the effective date of this Act. For
4-1 purposes of this section, conduct occurs before the effective date
4-2 of this Act if any element of the conduct occurs before the
4-3 effective date.
4-4 (b) Files or records relating to conduct violating a penal
4-5 law that occurs before the effective date of this Act is covered by
4-6 the law in effect when the conduct occurred, and the former law is
4-7 continued in effect for this purpose.
4-8 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
4-9 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
4-10 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-11 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-12 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-13 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.