By: Hinojosa, Ellis S.B. No. 90
(In the Senate - Filed November 15, 2004; January 31, 2005,
read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
April 7, 2005, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 7,
Nays 0; April 7, 2005, sent to printer.)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the authority of a peace officer to make a warrantless
arrest for the commission of family violence.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Article 14.03, Code of Criminal
Procedure, as amended by Section 2, Chapter 460, Section 2, Chapter
836, Section 1, Chapter 989, and Section 2, Chapter 1164, Acts of
the 78th Legislature, Regular Session, 2003, is reenacted and
amended to read as follows:
(a) Any peace officer may arrest, without warrant:
(1) persons found in suspicious places and under
circumstances which reasonably show that such persons have been
guilty of some felony, violation of Title 9, Chapter 42, Penal Code,
breach of the peace, or offense under Section 49.02, Penal Code, or
threaten, or are about to commit some offense against the laws;
(2) persons who the peace officer has probable cause
to believe have committed an assault resulting in bodily injury to
another person and the peace officer has probable cause to believe
that there is danger of further bodily injury to that person;
(3) persons who the peace officer has probable cause
to believe have committed an offense defined by Section 25.07,
Penal Code (violation of Protective Order), or by Section 38.112,
Penal Code (violation of Protective Order issued on basis of sexual
assault), if the offense is not committed in the presence of the
peace officer; [or]
(4) persons who the peace officer has probable cause
to believe have committed an offense involving family violence;
[assault resulting in bodily injury to a member of the person's
family or household; or]
(5) persons who the peace officer has probable cause
to believe have prevented or interfered with an individual's
ability to place a telephone call in an emergency, as defined by
Section 42.062(d), Penal Code, if the offense is not committed in
the presence of the peace officer; or [.]
(6) [(5)] a person who makes a statement to the peace
officer that would be admissible against the person under Article
38.21 and establishes probable cause to believe that the person has
committed a felony.
SECTION 2. Subsections (c) and (f), Article 14.03, Code of
Criminal Procedure, are amended to read as follows:
(c) If reasonably necessary to verify an allegation of a
violation of a protective order or of the commission of an offense
involving family violence [assault against a member of the family
or household], a peace officer shall remain at the scene of the
investigation to verify the allegation and to prevent the further
commission of the violation or of family violence.
(f) In this article, "family violence" has ["family,"
"household," and "member of a household" have] the meaning
[meanings] assigned [to those terms] by Section 71.004 [Chapter
71], Family Code.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.
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. For purposes of
this section, an offense was committed before the effective date of
this Act if any element of the offense was committed before that
date.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.
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