By Carter H.B. No. 2130
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to disposition of out-of-county crimes.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Article 4.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
1-5 amended to read as follows:
1-6 Art. 4.12. Misdemeanor cases; precinct in which defendant to
1-7 be tried in justice court. (a) A misdemeanor case to be tried in
1-8 justice court shall be tried in the precinct in which the offense
1-9 was committed, or in which the defendant or any of the defendants
1-10 reside, or, with the written consent of the State and each
1-11 defendant or his attorney, in any other precinct within the county;
1-12 provided that in any misdemeanor case in which the offense was
1-13 committed in a precinct where there is no qualified justice
1-14 precinct court, then trial shall be had in the next adjacent
1-15 precinct in the same county which may have a duly qualified justice
1-16 precinct court, or in the precinct in which the defendant may
1-17 reside.
1-18 (b) In [; provided that in] any such misdemeanor case, when
1-19 [upon disqualification] for any reason [of] all justices of the
1-20 peace in the precinct where the offense was committed are
1-21 disqualified, such case may be tried in the next adjoining precinct
1-22 in the same county, having a duly qualified justice of the peace.
1-23 (c) A defendant who is taken before a magistrate in
1-24 accordance with Article 15.18 may waive trial by jury and enter a
2-1 plea of guilty or nolo contendere. The magistrate taking the plea
2-2 may set a fine, give credit for time served, determine indigency,
2-3 and discharge the defendant, as the case may be.
2-4 SECTION 2. Article 15.18, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
2-5 amended to read as follows:
2-6 Art. 15.18. ARREST FOR OUT-OF-COUNTY OFFENSE. A person
2-7 [One] arrested under a warrant issued in a county other than the
2-8 one in which the person is arrested shall be taken before a
2-9 magistrate of the county where the arrest takes place who shall:
2-10 (1) take bail, if allowed by law, and immediately
2-11 transmit the bond taken to the court having jurisdiction of the
2-12 offense; or
2-13 (2) in the case of a person arrested under warrant for
2-14 an offense punishable by fine only, accept a plea of guilty or nolo
2-15 contendere, set a fine, give credit for time served, or determine
2-16 indigency, as the case may indicate.
2-17 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-18 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-19 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-20 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-21 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-22 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.