By Farrar                                             H.B. No. 1416
         77R5667 GWK-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to certain issues submitted to the jury in a death penalty
 1-3     proceeding.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 2(b), Article 37.071, Code of Criminal
 1-6     Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
 1-7           (b)  On conclusion of the presentation of the evidence, the
 1-8     court shall submit the following issues to the jury:
 1-9                 (1)  whether there is a probability that the defendant
1-10     would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a
1-11     continuing threat to society, considering  that, because the
1-12     defendant has been convicted and will serve a minimum of 40 years
1-13     in the institutional division of the Texas Department of Criminal
1-14     Justice, the defendant  will be segregated from a society that
1-15     consists of the general public; and
1-16                 (2)  in cases in which the jury charge at the guilt or
1-17     innocence stage permitted the jury to find the defendant guilty as
1-18     a party under Sections 7.01 and 7.02, Penal Code, whether the
1-19     defendant actually caused the death of the deceased or did not
1-20     actually cause the death of the deceased but intended to kill the
1-21     deceased or another or anticipated that a human life would be
1-22     taken.
1-23           SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2001, and
1-24     applies only to the trial of a capital case that commences on or
 2-1     after that date.  The trial of a capital case that commences before
 2-2     September 1, 2001, is covered by the law in effect when the trial
 2-3     commenced, and the former law is continued in effect for this
 2-4     purpose.