By: Wentworth S.B. No. 1067
(In the Senate - Filed February 23, 2009; March 13, 2009,
read first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence;
March 30, 2009, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 6,
Nays 0; March 30, 2009, sent to printer.)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the composition of the jury in certain adjudication
hearings in juvenile court.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsection (c), Section 54.03, Family Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(c) Trial shall be by jury unless jury is waived in
accordance with Section 51.09. If the hearing is on a petition that
has been approved by the grand jury under Section 53.045, the jury
must consist of 12 persons and be selected in accordance with the
requirements in criminal cases. If the hearing is on a petition
that alleges conduct that violates a penal law of this state of the
grade of misdemeanor, the jury must consist of the number of persons
required by Article 33.01(b), Code of Criminal Procedure. Jury
verdicts under this title must be unanimous.
SECTION 2. Subsection (c), Section 54.03, Family Code, as
amended by this Act, applies to an adjudication hearing conducted
in a juvenile court for which a jury is selected on or after the
effective date of this Act, regardless of the date the petition on
which the hearing is based was filed.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.
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