By Sibley                                              S.B. No. 725
       74R6350 GWK-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the peremptory challenge of a juror in a criminal case
    1-3  based on the juror's race.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Article 35.261, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
    1-6  amended to read as follows:
    1-7        Art. 35.261.  Peremptory Challenges Based on Race Prohibited.
    1-8  (a)  After the parties have delivered their lists to the clerk
    1-9  under Article 35.26 of this code and before the court has
   1-10  impanelled the jury, the attorney representing the state or the
   1-11  defendant may request the court to dismiss the array and call a new
   1-12  array in the case.  The court shall grant the motion of the moving
   1-13  party <of a defendant> for dismissal of the array if the court
   1-14  determines that the defendant is a member of an identifiable racial
   1-15  group, that the opposing party <attorney representing the state>
   1-16  exercised peremptory challenges for the purpose of excluding
   1-17  persons from the jury on the basis of their race, and that the
   1-18  moving party <defendant> has offered evidence of relevant facts
   1-19  that tend to show that challenges made by the opposing party
   1-20  <attorney representing the state> were made for reasons based on
   1-21  race.  If the moving party <defendant> establishes a prima facie
   1-22  case, the burden then shifts to the opposing party <attorney
   1-23  representing the state> to give a racially neutral explanation for
   1-24  the challenges.  The burden of persuasion remains with the moving
    2-1  party <defendant> to establish purposeful discrimination.
    2-2        (b)  If the court determines that the opposing party
    2-3  <attorney representing the state> challenged prospective jurors on
    2-4  the basis of race, the court shall call a new array in the case.
    2-5        SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
    2-6  only to a criminal trial that commences on or after the effective
    2-7  date of this Act.
    2-8        (b)  A trial that commences before the effective date of this
    2-9  Act is covered by the law in effect when the trial commenced, and
   2-10  the former law is continued in effect for this purpose.
   2-11        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   2-12        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-13  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-14  emergency   and   an   imperative   public   necessity   that   the
   2-15  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-16  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.