By:  Lucio                                              S.B. No. 39
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to jury instructions and charges in capital cases.
 1-2           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-3           SECTION 1.  Subsection (e), Section 2, Article 37.071, Code
 1-4     of Criminal Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
 1-5           (e)(1)  The court shall instruct the jury that if the jury
 1-6     returns an affirmative finding to each issue submitted under
 1-7     Subsection (b) of this article, it shall answer the following
 1-8     issue:
 1-9           Whether, taking into consideration all of the evidence,
1-10     including the circumstances of the offense, the defendant's
1-11     character and background, and the personal moral culpability of the
1-12     defendant, there is a sufficient mitigating circumstance or
1-13     circumstances to warrant that a sentence of life imprisonment
1-14     rather than a death sentence be imposed.
1-15                 (2)  The court, on the written request of the attorney
1-16     representing the defendant, shall:
1-17                       (A)  instruct the jury that if the jury answers
1-18     that a circumstance or circumstances warrant that a sentence of
1-19     life imprisonment rather than a death sentence be imposed, the
1-20     court will sentence the defendant to imprisonment in the
1-21     institutional division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice
1-22     for life; and
1-23                       (B)  charge the jury in writing as follows:
1-24                       "Under the law applicable in this case, if the
 2-1     defendant is sentenced to imprisonment in the institutional
 2-2     division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for life, the
 2-3     defendant will become eligible for release on parole, but not until
 2-4     the actual time served by the defendant equals 40 years, without
 2-5     consideration of any good conduct time.  It cannot accurately be
 2-6     predicted how the parole laws might be applied to this defendant if
 2-7     the defendant is sentenced to a term of imprisonment for life
 2-8     because the application of those laws will depend on decisions made
 2-9     by prison and parole authorities, but eligibility for parole does
2-10     not guarantee that parole will be granted."
2-11           SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
2-12     only to an offense committed in or after the effective date of this
2-13     Act.
2-14           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
2-15     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
2-16     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
2-17           (c)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-18           SECTION 3.  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,
2-23     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-24     passage, and it is so enacted.