By Talton                                       H.B. No. 1365

      75R5216 GWK-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the admissibility of evidence in criminal cases.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Article 38.23, Code of Criminal Procedure, is

 1-5     amended to read as follows:

 1-6           Art. 38.23.  EVIDENCE NOT TO BE USED.  (a)  No evidence

 1-7     obtained by an officer [or other person] in violation of any

 1-8     provisions of the Constitution or laws of the State of Texas, or of

 1-9     the Constitution or laws of the United States of America, shall be

1-10     admitted in evidence against the accused on the trial of any

1-11     criminal case.

1-12           In any case where the legal evidence raises an issue

1-13     hereunder, the jury shall be instructed that if it believes, or has

1-14     a reasonable doubt, that the evidence was obtained in violation of

1-15     the provisions of this Article, then and in such event, the jury

1-16     shall disregard any such evidence so obtained.

1-17           (b)  It is an exception to the provisions of Subsection (a)

1-18     of this Article that the evidence:

1-19                 (1)  was obtained by a law enforcement officer acting

1-20     in objective good faith reliance upon a warrant issued by a neutral

1-21     magistrate; or

1-22                 (2)  inevitably would have been discovered by lawful

1-23     means [based on probable cause].

1-24           SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies only

 2-1     to the admissibility of evidence obtained on or after the effective

 2-2     date of this Act. The admissibility of evidence obtained  before

 2-3     the effective date of this Act is covered by the law in effect when

 2-4     the evidence was obtained, and the former law is continued in

 2-5     effect for that purpose.

 2-6           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

 2-7           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

 2-8     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 2-9     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-10     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-11     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.