| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to the prosecution of the criminal offense of capital |
|
|
murder. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 19.03, Penal Code, is amended by |
|
|
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (d) to read as |
|
|
follows: |
|
|
(a) A person commits an offense if the person commits murder |
|
|
as defined under Section 19.02(b)(1) and: |
|
|
(1) the person murders a peace officer, [or] fireman, |
|
|
or emergency medical services personnel who is acting in the lawful |
|
|
discharge of an official duty and who the person knows is a peace |
|
|
officer, [or] fireman, or emergency medical services personnel; |
|
|
(2) the person intentionally commits the murder in the |
|
|
course of committing or attempting to commit kidnapping, burglary, |
|
|
robbery, aggravated sexual assault, arson, obstruction or |
|
|
retaliation, or terroristic threat under Section 22.07(a)(1), (3), |
|
|
(4), (5), or (6); |
|
|
(3) the person commits the murder for remuneration or |
|
|
the promise of remuneration or employs another to commit the murder |
|
|
for remuneration or the promise of remuneration; |
|
|
(4) the person commits the murder while escaping or |
|
|
attempting to escape from a penal institution; |
|
|
(5) the person, while incarcerated in a penal |
|
|
institution, murders another: |
|
|
(A) who is employed in the operation of the penal |
|
|
institution; or |
|
|
(B) with the intent to establish, maintain, or |
|
|
participate in a combination or in the profits of a combination; |
|
|
(6) the person: |
|
|
(A) while incarcerated for an offense under this |
|
|
section or Section 19.02, murders another; or |
|
|
(B) while serving a sentence of life imprisonment |
|
|
or a term of 99 years for an offense under Section 20.04, 22.021, or |
|
|
29.03, murders another; |
|
|
(7) the person murders more than one person: |
|
|
(A) during the same criminal transaction; or |
|
|
(B) during different criminal transactions but |
|
|
the murders are committed pursuant to the same scheme or course of |
|
|
conduct; |
|
|
(8) the person murders an individual under 10 years of |
|
|
age; or |
|
|
(9) the person murders another person in retaliation |
|
|
for or on account of the service or status of the other person as a |
|
|
judge or justice of the supreme court, the court of criminal |
|
|
appeals, a court of appeals, a district court, a criminal district |
|
|
court, a constitutional county court, a statutory county court, a |
|
|
justice court, or a municipal court. |
|
|
(d) In this section, "emergency medical services personnel" |
|
|
has the meaning assigned by Section 773.003, Health and Safety |
|
|
Code. |
|
|
SECTION 2. 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 was |
|
|
committed before that date. |
|
|
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019. |