By Wentworth                                     S.B. No. 971

      75R3516 GWK-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the murder of a peace officer as a capital offense.

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

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 19.03(a), Penal Code, is amended to read

 1-5     as follows:

 1-6           (a)  A person commits an offense if he commits murder as

 1-7     defined under Section 19.02(b)(1) and:

 1-8                 (1)  the person murders:

 1-9                       (A)  a peace officer [or fireman] who is acting

1-10     in the lawful discharge of an official duty, regardless of whether

1-11     the  peace officer is on duty at the time of the commission of the

1-12     offense, and who the person knows is a peace officer; or

1-13                       (B)  a fireman who is acting in the lawful

1-14     discharge of an official duty and who the person knows is a

1-15     fireman;

1-16                 (2)  the person intentionally commits the murder in the

1-17     course of committing or attempting to commit kidnapping, burglary,

1-18     robbery, aggravated sexual assault, arson, or obstruction or

1-19     retaliation;

1-20                 (3)  the person commits the murder for remuneration or

1-21     the promise of remuneration or employs another to commit the murder

1-22     for remuneration or the promise of remuneration;

1-23                 (4)  the person commits the murder while escaping or

1-24     attempting to escape from a penal institution;

 2-1                 (5)  the person, while incarcerated in a penal

 2-2     institution, murders another:

 2-3                       (A)  who is employed in the operation of the

 2-4     penal institution; or

 2-5                       (B)  with the intent to establish, maintain, or

 2-6     participate in a combination or in the profits of a combination;

 2-7                 (6)  the person:

 2-8                       (A)  while incarcerated for an offense under this

 2-9     section or Section 19.02, murders another; or

2-10                       (B)  while serving a sentence of life

2-11     imprisonment or a term of 99 years for an offense under Section

2-12     20.04, 22.021, or 29.03, murders another;

2-13                 (7)  the person murders more than one person:

2-14                       (A)  during the same criminal transaction; or

2-15                       (B)  during different criminal transactions but

2-16     the murders are committed pursuant to the same scheme or course of

2-17     conduct; or

2-18                 (8)  the person murders an individual under six years

2-19     of age.

2-20           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

2-21           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-22     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-23     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-24     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-25     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.