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Amend HB 464 (house committee report) by adding the following appropriately numbered SECTIONS to the bill and renumbering subsequent SECTIONS of the bill accordingly:
SECTION ____. Article 11.074, Code of Criminal Procedure, is amended by amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (b-1) to read as follows:
(b) If at any time the state represents to the convicting court that an eligible indigent defendant under Article 1.051 has under a writ of habeas corpus a potentially meritorious claim for relief from a judgment described by Subsection (a) [who was sentenced or had a sentence suspended is not guilty, is guilty of only a lesser offense, or was convicted or sentenced under a law that has been found unconstitutional by the court of criminal appeals or the United States Supreme Court], the court shall appoint an attorney to investigate the claim and represent the indigent defendant for purposes of filing an application for a writ of habeas corpus, if an application has not been filed, or to otherwise represent the indigent defendant in a proceeding based on the application for the writ.
(b-1) For purposes of Subsection (b), a potentially meritorious claim is any claim the court determines is likely to provide relief, including a claim that the defendant:
(1) is or may be actually innocent of the offense;
(2) is or may be guilty of only a lesser offense;
(3) was or may have been convicted or sentenced under a law that has been found unconstitutional by the court of criminal appeals or the United States Supreme Court; or
(4) was or may have been convicted or sentenced in violation of the constitution of this state or the United States.
SECTION ____. The change in law made by this Act to Article 11.074, Code of Criminal Procedure, relating to an application filed for a writ of habeas corpus applies regardless of whether the offense for which the applicant is in custody was committed before, on, or after the effective date of this Act.