79R2045 KCR-F
By: Hilderbran H.B. No. 1012
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the offenses of abuse of a corpse and desecration of
cemetery; providing a criminal penalty.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 28, Penal Code, is amended by adding
Section 28.09 to read as follows:
Sec. 28.09. DESECRATION OF CEMETERY OR OTHER COMMEMORATIVE
STRUCTURE OR AREA. (a) A person commits an offense if the person:
(1) without legal authority, knowingly:
(A) defaces, vandalizes, injures, or removes a
gravestone, monument, or other structure commemorating a deceased
person or group of deceased persons, whether located within or
outside of a cemetery;
(B) obliterates, vandalizes, or desecrates a
park or other area clearly designated to preserve and perpetuate
the memory of a deceased person or group of deceased persons;
(C) obliterates, vandalizes, or desecrates
plants, trees, shrubs, or flowers located on or around a cemetery;
or
(D) obliterates, vandalizes, or desecrates a
fence, rail, curb, or other structure of a similar nature intended
for the protection or for the ornamentation of any plot,
gravestone, monument, or other structure of similar character; or
(2) without authorization, knowingly enters or
remains on the premises of a cemetery during hours that the cemetery
is posted as closed to the public.
(b) An offense under Subsection (a)(1) is a state jail
felony. An offense under Subsection (a)(2) is a Class C
misdemeanor.
(c) It is a defense to prosecution under Subsection (a)(1)
that the actor:
(1) as a member or agent of a cemetery organization,
removed or unavoidably damaged anything that had been placed in or
on any portion of the organization's cemetery in violation of the
rules of the organization; or
(2) removed anything:
(A) placed in the cemetery in violation of the
rules of the cemetery organization; or
(B) placed in the cemetery by or with the
cemetery organization's consent but that, in the organization's
judgment, had become wrecked, unsightly, or dilapidated.
(d) In this section, "cemetery," "cemetery organization,"
and "plot" have the meanings assigned by Section 711.001, Health
and Safety Code.
SECTION 2. Section 42.08, Penal Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 42.08. ABUSE OF CORPSE. (a) A person commits an
offense if the person, without legal authority [not authorized by
law], [he intentionally or] knowingly:
(1) disinters, disturbs, removes, dissects, in whole
or in part, carries away, damages, destroys, or treats in a
seriously offensive manner a human corpse or any portion of a human
corpse or the cremated remains or any portion of the cremated
remains of a human corpse;
(2) conceals a human corpse knowing it to be illegally
disinterred;
(3) sells or buys a human corpse or in any way traffics
in a human corpse; [or]
(4) transmits or conveys, or procures to be
transmitted or conveyed, a human corpse to a place outside the
state;
(5) desecrates a human corpse or the cremated remains
of a human corpse; or
(6) obliterates, vandalizes, or desecrates the space
in which a human corpse or the cremated remains of a human corpse
have been interred, entombed, buried, or otherwise permanently laid
to rest, including a grave, crypt, lawn crypt, or niche.
(b) An offense under this section is a state jail felony
[Class A misdemeanor].
(c) It is a defense to prosecution under Subsection (a)(6)
that the actor:
(1) as a member or agent of a cemetery organization,
removed or unavoidably damaged anything that had been placed in or
on any portion of the organization's cemetery in violation of the
rules of the organization; or
(2) removed anything:
(A) placed in the cemetery in violation of the
rules of the cemetery organization; or
(B) placed in the cemetery by or with the
cemetery organization's consent but that, in the organization's
judgment, had become wrecked, unsightly, or dilapidated.
(d) In this section, "cemetery" and "cemetery organization"
have the meanings assigned by Section 711.001, Health and Safety
Code.
SECTION 3. Article 42.037, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by adding Subsection (p) to read as follows:
(p)(1) A court shall order a defendant convicted of an
offense under Section 28.09 or 42.08, Penal Code, to make
restitution in the amount described by Subsection (b)(1)(B) to a
cemetery organization operating a cemetery affected by the
commission of the offense.
(2) If a court orders an unemancipated minor to make
restitution under Subsection (a) and the minor is financially
unable to make the restitution, the court may order:
(A) the minor to perform a specific number of
hours of community service to satisfy the restitution; or
(B) the parents or other person responsible for
the minor's support to make the restitution in the amount described
by Subsection (b)(1)(B).
(3) In this subsection, "cemetery" and "cemetery
organization" have the meanings assigned by Section 711.001, Health
and Safety Code.
SECTION 4. Chapter 54, Family Code, is amended by adding
Section 54.0481 to read as follows:
Sec. 54.0481. RESTITUTION FOR DESECRATING A CEMETERY OR
ABUSING A CORPSE. (a) A juvenile court, in a disposition hearing
under Section 54.04 regarding a child who has been adjudicated to
have engaged in delinquent conduct that violates Section 28.09 or
42.08, Penal Code, shall order the child to make restitution to a
cemetery organization operating a cemetery affected by the conduct
in an amount equal to the cost to the cemetery of repairing any
damage caused by the conduct.
(b) If a juvenile court orders a child to make restitution
under Subsection (a) and the child is financially unable to make the
restitution, the court may order:
(1) the child to perform a specific number of hours of
community service to satisfy the restitution; or
(2) a parent or other person responsible for the
child's support to make the restitution in the amount described by
Subsection (a).
(c) In this section, "cemetery" and "cemetery organization"
have the meanings assigned by Section 711.001, Health and Safety
Code.
SECTION 5. Chapter 54, Family Code, is amended by adding
Section 54.049 to read as follows:
Sec. 54.049. CONDITIONS OF PROBATION FOR DESECRATING A
CEMETERY OR ABUSING A CORPSE. (a) If a juvenile court places on
probation under Section 54.04(d) a child adjudicated to have
engaged in conduct in violation of Section 28.09 or 42.08, Penal
Code, in addition to other conditions of probation, the court shall
order the child to make restitution to a cemetery organization
operating a cemetery affected by the conduct in an amount equal to
the cost to the cemetery of repairing any damage caused by the
conduct.
(b) If a juvenile court orders a child to make restitution
under Subsection (a) and the child is financially unable to make the
restitution, the court may order:
(1) the child to perform a specific number of hours of
community service to satisfy the restitution; or
(2) a parent or other person responsible for the
child's support to make the restitution in the amount described by
Subsection (a).
(c) In this section, "cemetery" and "cemetery organization"
have the meanings assigned by Section 711.001, Health and Safety
Code.
SECTION 6. Section 711.0311, Health and Safety Code, is
repealed.
SECTION 7. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
an offense committed or conduct engaged in on or after the effective
date of this Act. An offense committed or conduct engaged in before
the effective date of this Act is covered by the law in effect at the
time the offense was committed or the conduct was engaged in, and
the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For
purposes of this section, an offense was committed or conduct was
engaged in before the effective date of this Act if any element of
the offense or conduct was committed or engaged in before that date.
SECTION 8. This Act takes effect June 1, 2005, if this Act
receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each
house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.
If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for effect on June
1, 2005, this Act takes effect September 1, 2005.