This website will be unavailable from Friday, April 26, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. through Monday, April 29, 2024 at 7:00 a.m. due to data center maintenance.
By: Lucio, et al. S.B. No. 60
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the punishment for a capital offense.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 508.046, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 508.046. EXTRAORDINARY VOTE REQUIRED. To release on
parole an inmate who was convicted of [a capital felony or] an
offense under Section 21.11(a)(1) or 22.021, Penal Code, or who is
required under Section 508.145(c) to serve 35 calendar years before
becoming eligible for release on parole, all members of the board
must vote on the release on parole of the inmate, and at least
two-thirds of the members must vote in favor of the release on
parole. A member of the board may not vote on the release unless the
member first receives a copy of a written report from the department
on the probability that the inmate would commit an offense after
being released on parole.
SECTION 2. Subsection (b), Section 508.145, Government
Code, is amended to read as follows:
(b) An inmate serving a life sentence for a capital felony
is not eligible for release on parole [until the actual calendar
time the inmate has served, without consideration of good conduct
time, equals 40 calendar years].
SECTION 3. Subsection (e), Section 2, Article 37.071, Code
of Criminal Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
(e)(1) The court shall instruct the jury that if the jury
returns an affirmative finding to each issue submitted under
Subsection (b) of this article, it shall answer the following
issue:
Whether, taking into consideration all of the evidence,
including the circumstances of the offense, the defendant's
character and background, and the personal moral culpability of the
defendant, there is a sufficient mitigating circumstance or
circumstances to warrant that a sentence of life imprisonment
rather than a death sentence be imposed.
(2) The court[, on the written request of the attorney
representing the defendant,] shall:
(A) instruct the jury that if the jury answers
that a circumstance or circumstances warrant that a sentence of
life imprisonment rather than a death sentence be imposed, the
court will sentence the defendant to imprisonment in the
institutional division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice
for life; and
(B) charge the jury in writing as follows:
"Under the law applicable in this case, if the defendant is
sentenced to imprisonment in the institutional division of the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice for life, the defendant will
not become eligible for release on parole or mandatory
supervision[, but not until the actual time served by the defendant
equals 40 years, without consideration of any good conduct time. It
cannot accurately be predicted how the parole laws might be applied
to this defendant if the defendant is sentenced to a term of
imprisonment for life because the application of those laws will
depend on decisions made by prison and parole authorities, but
eligibility for parole does not guarantee that parole will be
granted]."
SECTION 4. Subsections (a) and (f), Section 508.146,
Government Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) An inmate, other than an inmate who is serving a
sentence of death or life without parole or an inmate who has a
reportable conviction or adjudication under Chapter 62, Code of
Criminal Procedure, may be released on medically recommended
intensive supervision on a date designated by a parole panel
described by Subsection (e), except that an inmate with an instant
offense that is an offense described in Section 3g, Article 42.12,
Code of Criminal Procedure, may only be considered if a medical
condition of terminal illness or long-term care has been diagnosed,
if:
(1) the Texas Correctional Office on Offenders with
Medical or Mental Impairments, in cooperation with the Correctional
Managed Health Care Committee, identifies the inmate as being
elderly, physically disabled, mentally ill, terminally ill, or
mentally retarded or having a condition requiring long-term care;
(2) the parole panel determines that, based on the
inmate's condition and a medical evaluation, the inmate does not
constitute a threat to public safety; and
(3) the Texas Correctional Office on Offenders with
Medical or Mental Impairments, in cooperation with the pardons and
paroles division, has prepared for the inmate a medically
recommended intensive supervision plan that requires the inmate to
submit to electronic monitoring, places the inmate on
super-intensive supervision, or otherwise ensures appropriate
supervision of the inmate.
(f) An inmate who is not a citizen of the United States, as
defined by federal law, who is not under a sentence of death or life
without parole, and who does not have a reportable conviction or
adjudication under Chapter 62, Code of Criminal Procedure, or an
instant offense described in Section 3g, Article 42.12, Code of
Criminal Procedure, may be released to immigration authorities
pending deportation on a date designated by a parole panel
described by Subsection (e) if the parole panel determines that on
release the inmate would be deported to another country and that the
inmate does not constitute a threat to public safety in the other
country or this country and is unlikely to reenter this country
illegally.
SECTION 5. (a) The change in law made by this Act applies
only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
Act. For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
before the effective date.
(b) An offense committed before the effective date of this
Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.