80R3793 KCR-D
 
  By: Laubenberg H.B. No. 1577
 
 
 
   
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to certain challenges for cause in criminal cases.
       BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
       SECTION 1.  Article 35.16, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by amending Subsections (b) and (c) and adding Subsection
(d) to read as follows:
       (b)  A challenge for cause may be made by the State for any of
the following reasons:
             1.  That the juror has conscientious scruples in regard
to the infliction of the punishment of death for crime, in a capital
case, where the State is seeking the death penalty;
             2.  That the juror [he] is related within the third
degree of consanguinity or affinity, as determined under Chapter
573, Government Code, to the defendant; and
             3.  That, except as provided by Subsection (d), the
juror [he] has a bias or prejudice against any phase of the law upon
which the State is entitled to rely for conviction or punishment.
       (c)  A challenge for cause may be made by the defense for any
of the following reasons:
             1.  That the juror [he] is related within the third
degree of consanguinity or affinity, as determined under Chapter
573, Government Code, to the person injured by the commission of the
offense, or to any prosecutor in the case; and
             2.  That the juror [he] has a bias or prejudice against
any of the law applicable to the case upon which the defense is
entitled to rely, either as a defense to some phase of the offense
for which the defendant is being prosecuted or as a mitigation
thereof or, except as provided by Subsection (d), of the punishment
therefor.
       (d)  The state or the defense may not make a challenge for
cause against a juror solely because the juror indicates that, if
the defendant is found guilty, the juror will be unable or unwilling
to consider recommending to the judge that the judge suspend the
imposition of the sentence and place the defendant on community
supervision under Article 42.12.
       SECTION 2.  Article 35.16, Code of Criminal Procedure, as
amended by this Act, applies only to a criminal trial that commences
on or after the effective date of this Act. A criminal trial that
commences before the effective date of this Act is governed by the
law in effect at the time the trial commences, and the former law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
       SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2007.