By:  Keel                                                         H.B. No. 2796



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the exercise of peremptory challenges based on race or 
gender.  
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Article 35.261, Code of Criminal Procedure, is 
amended to read as follows:
	Art. 35.261.  PEREMPTORY CHALLENGES BASED ON RACE OR GENDER 
PROHIBITED.  (a)  After the parties have delivered their lists to 
the clerk under Article 35.26 of this code and before the court has 
impanelled the jury, a party [the defendant] may request the court 
to dismiss the array and call a new array in the case.  The court 
shall grant the motion of a requesting party [defendant] for 
dismissal of the array if the court determines [that the defendant 
is a member of an identifiable racial group,] that the attorney 
representing the opposing party [state] exercised peremptory 
challenges for the purpose of excluding persons from the jury on the 
basis of their race or gender, and that the requesting party 
[defendant] has offered evidence of relevant facts that tend to 
show that challenges made by the attorney representing the opposing 
party [state] were made for reasons based on race or gender.  If the 
requesting party [defendant] establishes a prima facie case, the 
burden then shifts to the attorney representing the opposing party 
[state] to give a racially or gender neutral explanation for the 
challenges.  The burden of persuasion remains with the requesting 
party [defendant] to establish purposeful discrimination.
	(b)  If the court determines that a party [the attorney 
representing the state] challenged prospective jurors on the basis 
of race or gender, the court shall call a new array in the case.
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.