By Tillery                                            H.B. No. 2063
         Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
         Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to jury charges in felony and misdemeanor trials.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1. Article 37.07, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
 1-5     amended by adding Section 5 as follows:
 1-6           Sec. 1. Sec. 5 (a)  In all misdemeanor and felony trials, the
 1-7     court shall charge the jury in writing as follows:
 1-8           "All persons are presumed to be innocent and no person may be
 1-9     convicted of an offense unless each element of the offense is
1-10     proved beyond a reasonable doubt.  The fact that a person has been
1-11     arrested, confined, or indicted for, or otherwise charged with, the
1-12     offense gives rise to no inference of guilt at his trial.  The law
1-13     does not require a defendant to prove his innocence or produce any
1-14     evidence at all.  The presumption of innocence alone is sufficient
1-15     to acquit the defendant, unless the jurors are satisfied beyond a
1-16     reasonable doubt of the defendant's guilt after careful and
1-17     impartial consideration of all evidence in the case.
1-18           "The prosecution has the burden of proving the defendant
1-19     guilty and it must do so by proving each and every element of the
1-20     offense charged beyond a reasonable doubt and if it fails to do so,
1-21     you must acquit the defendant.
1-22           "It is not required that the prosecution prove guilt beyond
 2-1     all possible doubt; it is required that the prosecution's proof
 2-2     excludes all 'reasonable doubt' concerning the defendant's guilt.
 2-3           "A 'reasonable doubt' is a doubt based on reason and common
 2-4     sense after a careful and impartial consideration of all the
 2-5     evidence in the case.  It is the kind of doubt that would make a
 2-6     reasonable person hesitate to act in the most important of his own
 2-7     affairs.
 2-8           "Proof beyond a reasonable doubt, therefore, must be proof of
 2-9     such convincing character that you would be willing to rely and act
2-10     upon it without hesitation in the most important of your own
2-11     affairs.
2-12           "In the event you have a reasonable doubt as to the
2-13     defendant's guilt after considering all the evidence before you,
2-14     and these instructions, you will acquit him and say by your verdict
2-15     "Not guilty."
2-16           (b)  In all misdemeanor and felony trials, where the State
2-17     relies on circumstantial evidence, the court shall charge the jury
2-18     in writing as follows:
2-19           "You are instructed that is this case the State relies on
2-20     circumstantial evidence for adjudication or conviction.
2-21           "In order to warrant a conviction of a crime on
2-22     circumstantial evidence, each fact necessary to the conclusion
2-23     sought to be established must be proved by competent evidence,
2-24     beyond a reasonable doubt; all the facts necessary to a conclusion
2-25     of guilt must be consistent with each other and, taken together,
2-26     must be of a conclusive nature, leading on the whole to a
 3-1     satisfactory conclusion and producing, in effect, a reasonable and
 3-2     moral certainty that the accused, and no other person, committed
 3-3     the offense charged.
 3-4           "But in such cases it is not sufficient that the
 3-5     circumstances coincide with, account for, and therefore render
 3-6     probable the guilt of the Defendant.  They must exclude, to a moral
 3-7     certainty, every other reasonable hypothesis except the Defendant's
 3-8     guilt; and unless they do so, beyond a reasonable doubt, you will
 3-9     find the defendant not guilty."
3-10           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.