By Solomons H.B. No. 684
76R1632 JMC-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the murder of an individual who is protected by a court
1-3 order by a person to whom the order is directed as a capital
1-4 offense.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 19.03(a), Penal Code, is amended to read
1-7 as follows:
1-8 (a) A person commits an offense if the person [he] commits
1-9 murder as defined under Section 19.02(b)(1) and:
1-10 (1) the person murders a peace officer or fireman who
1-11 is acting in the lawful discharge of an official duty and who the
1-12 person knows is a peace officer or fireman;
1-13 (2) the person intentionally commits the murder in the
1-14 course of committing or attempting to commit kidnapping, burglary,
1-15 robbery, aggravated sexual assault, arson, or obstruction or
1-16 retaliation;
1-17 (3) the person commits the murder for remuneration or
1-18 the promise of remuneration or employs another to commit the murder
1-19 for remuneration or the promise of remuneration;
1-20 (4) the person commits the murder while escaping or
1-21 attempting to escape from a penal institution;
1-22 (5) the person, while incarcerated in a penal
1-23 institution, murders another:
1-24 (A) who is employed in the operation of the
2-1 penal institution; or
2-2 (B) with the intent to establish, maintain, or
2-3 participate in a combination or in the profits of a combination;
2-4 (6) the person:
2-5 (A) while incarcerated for an offense under this
2-6 section or Section 19.02, murders another; or
2-7 (B) while serving a sentence of life
2-8 imprisonment or a term of 99 years for an offense under Section
2-9 20.04, 22.021, or 29.03, murders another;
2-10 (7) the person murders more than one person:
2-11 (A) during the same criminal transaction; or
2-12 (B) during different criminal transactions but
2-13 the murders are committed pursuant to the same scheme or course of
2-14 conduct; [or]
2-15 (8) the person murders an individual under six years
2-16 of age; or
2-17 (9) the person murders an individual who is protected
2-18 by an order issued under Section 6.504 or Chapter 85, Family Code,
2-19 under Article 17.292, Code of Criminal Procedure, or by another
2-20 jurisdiction as provided by Chapter 88, Family Code, while the
2-21 order is directed to the person.
2-22 SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
2-23 to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.
2-24 An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is
2-25 covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed, and
2-26 the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For
2-27 purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the
3-1 effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred
3-2 before that date.
3-3 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
3-4 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-5 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-6 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-7 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-8 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.