80R4029 HLT-D

By: Haggerty H.B. No. 925

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the transfer of certain convicted felons from county jail to the custody of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and to their ineligibility for bail pending appeal.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 3, Article 42.09, Code of Criminal Procedure, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 3. If a defendant is convicted of a felony and sentenced to death, life, or a term of at least [more than] ten years in the [institutional division of the] Texas Department of Criminal Justice or if a defendant is convicted of a state jail felony and sentenced to a term of at least one year, and he gives notice of appeal, he shall be transferred to the department [institutional division] on a commitment pending a mandate from the court of appeals or the Court of Criminal Appeals.

SECTION 2. Article 44.04(b), Code of Criminal Procedure, is amended to read as follows:

(b) The defendant may not be released on bail, but shall immediately be placed in custody and the bail discharged, pending the appeal from any felony conviction where:

(1) the punishment equals or exceeds 10 years confinement;

(2) [or where] the defendant has been convicted of an offense listed under Section 3g(a)(1), Article 42.12; or

(3) the defendant has been convicted of a state jail felony and sentenced to a term of confinement of at least one year[, but shall immediately be placed in custody and the bail discharged].

SECTION 3. This Act applies only to a defendant who on or after the effective date of this Act is sentenced to a term of confinement in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. A defendant who before the effective date of this Act is sentenced to a term of confinement in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is covered by the law in effect when the defendant was sentenced, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2007.