82R6252 JSC-D

By: Lucio III H.B. No. 1723

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the penalties prescribed for a single violation or repeated violations of certain court orders or conditions of bond in a family violence case.

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

SECTION 1. Section 25.07, Penal Code, is amended by amending Subsection (g) and adding Subsection (h) to read as follows:

(g) Except as provided by Subsection (h), an [An] offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor.

(h) An offense under this section is a felony of the third degree if [unless] it is shown on the trial of the offense that the defendant:

(1) has previously been convicted under this section two or more times; or

(2) has violated the order or condition of bond by committing:

(A) an assault;

(B) [or] the offense of stalking; or

(C) an offense under Section 30.02, if the defendant entered the habitation of a protected individual[, in which event the offense is a third degree felony].

SECTION 2. Chapter 25, Penal Code, is amended by adding Section 25.072 to read as follows:

Sec. 25.072. REPEATED VIOLATION OF CERTAIN COURT ORDERS OR CONDITIONS OF BOND IN A FAMILY VIOLENCE CASE. (a) A person commits an offense if, during a period that is 12 months or less in duration, the person two or more times engages in conduct that constitutes an offense under Section 25.07 against another person or persons who are protected individuals under the terms of the court's order.

(b) If the jury is the trier of fact, members of the jury are not required to agree unanimously on the specific conduct in which the defendant engaged that constituted an offense under Section 25.07 against the person or persons described by Subsection (a) or the exact date when that conduct occurred. The jury must agree unanimously that the defendant, during a period that is 12 months or less in duration, two or more times engaged in conduct that constituted an offense under Section 25.07 against the person or persons described by Subsection (a).

(c) A defendant may not be convicted in the same criminal action of another offense the victim of which is an alleged victim of the offense under Subsection (a) and an element of which is any conduct that is alleged as an element of the offense under Subsection (a) unless the other offense:

(1) is charged in the alternative;

(2) occurred outside the period in which the offense alleged under Subsection (a) was committed; or

(3) is considered by the trier of fact to be a lesser included offense of the offense alleged under Subsection (a).

(d) A defendant may not be charged with more than one count under Subsection (a) if all of the specific conduct that is alleged to have been engaged in is alleged to have been committed in violation of a single court order.

(e) An offense under this section is a felony of the third degree.

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 governed by the law in effect on the date 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 occurred before that date.

SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.