79R5411 RMB-D
By: Carona S.B. No. 560
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to court orders for discovery in a criminal case.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Article 39.14(a), Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) Upon motion of the defendant [showing good cause
therefor and upon notice to the other parties], the court in which
an action is pending shall [may] order the State before or during
trial of a criminal action therein pending or on trial to produce
and permit the inspection and copying or photographing by or on
behalf of the defendant of any designated documents, papers,
written statement of the defendant, ([except written statements of
witnesses and] except the work product of counsel in the case and
their investigators and their notes or report), books, accounts,
letters, photographs, objects or tangible things not privileged,
which constitute or contain evidence material to any matter
involved in the action and which are in the possession, custody or
control of the State or any of its agencies. The order shall
specify the time, place and manner of making the inspection and
taking the copies and photographs of any of the aforementioned
documents or tangible evidence; provided, however, that the rights
herein granted shall not extend to written communications between
the State or any of its agents or representatives or employees.
Nothing in this Act shall authorize the removal of such evidence
from the possession of the State, and any inspection shall be in the
presence of a representative of the State.
SECTION 2. The change in law made by Article 39.14(a), Code
of Criminal Procedure, as amended by this Act, applies to a motion
for discovery filed on or after the effective date of this Act. A
motion for discovery filed before the effective date of this Act is
covered by the law in effect on the date the motion is filed, and the
former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it 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 immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2005.