1-1 By: Wentworth S.B. No. 886
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed March 2, 1995; March 6, 1995, read
1-3 first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
1-4 April 5, 1995, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 5,
1-5 Nays 0; April 5, 1995, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the retrial of a case in a justice court or municipal
1-9 court after a mistrial has been declared.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Article 45.40, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
1-12 amended to read as follows:
1-13 Art. 45.40. MISTRIAL. A jury shall be discharged if it
1-14 fails to agree to a verdict after being kept together a reasonable
1-15 time. If a jury is discharged without having rendered a verdict,
1-16 the cause may be tried again during the same term or during another
1-17 term. <there be time left on the same day, another jury may be
1-18 impaneled to try the cause, or the justice may adjourn for not more
1-19 than two days and again impanel a jury to try such cause.>
1-20 SECTION 2. Chapter 30, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is
1-21 amended by adding Section 30.007 to read as follows:
1-22 Sec. 30.007. MISTRIAL IN JUSTICE COURT OR MUNICIPAL COURT.
1-23 If a jury in a trial in a justice court or a municipal court is
1-24 discharged without having rendered a verdict, the cause may be
1-25 tried again as soon as practicable.
1-26 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
1-27 applies to a trial in a justice court or municipal court that
1-28 begins on or after that date. For purposes of this section, a
1-29 trial begins on the date a jury is impaneled. A trial that begins
1-30 in a justice court or municipal court before the effective date of
1-31 this Act is governed by the law in effect when the trial began, and
1-32 that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
1-33 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
1-34 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-35 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-36 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-37 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-38 * * * * *