81R9951 SJM-D
By: Ellis S.B. No. 2162
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the appointment of counsel for the purposes of
community supervision revocation or appellate proceedings.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Articles 26.04(a), (c), (i), and (o), Code of
Criminal Procedure, are amended to read as follows:
(a) The judges of the county courts, statutory county
courts, and district courts trying criminal cases in each county,
by local rule, shall adopt and publish written countywide
procedures for timely and fairly appointing counsel for an indigent
defendant in the county arrested for, [or] charged with, or taking
an appeal from a conviction of a misdemeanor punishable by
confinement or a felony. The procedures must be consistent with
this article and Articles 1.051, 15.17, 26.05, and 26.052. A court
shall appoint an attorney from a public appointment list using a
system of rotation, unless the court appoints an attorney under
Subsection (f), (h), or (i). The court shall appoint attorneys from
among the next five names on the appointment list in the order in
which the attorneys' names appear on the list, unless the court
makes a finding of good cause on the record for appointing an
attorney out of order. An attorney who is not appointed in the
order in which the attorney's name appears on the list shall remain
next in order on the list.
(c) Whenever a court or the courts' designee authorized
under Subsection (b) to appoint counsel for indigent defendants in
the county determines for purposes of a criminal proceeding that a
defendant charged with or appealing a conviction of a felony or a
misdemeanor punishable by confinement is indigent or that the
interests of justice require representation of a defendant in the
[a criminal] proceeding, the court or the courts' designee shall
appoint one or more practicing attorneys to represent [defend] the
defendant in accordance with this subsection and the procedures
adopted under Subsection (a). If the court or the courts' designee
determines that the defendant does not speak and understand the
English language or that the defendant is deaf, the court or the
courts' designee shall make an effort to appoint an attorney who is
capable of communicating in a language understood by the defendant.
(i) A court or the courts' designee required under
Subsection (c) to appoint an attorney to represent a defendant
accused or convicted of a felony may appoint an attorney from any
county located in the court's administrative judicial region.
(o) Before making a determination of whether a defendant is
indigent, the court shall request the defendant to sign under oath a
statement substantially in the following form:
"On this ________ day of ____________, 20 ___, I have been advised
by the (name of the court) Court of my right to representation by
counsel in connection with [the trial of] the charge pending
against me. I am without means to employ counsel of my own choosing
and I hereby request the court to appoint counsel for me.
(signature of the defendant)"
SECTION 2. Section 21(d), Article 42.12, Code of Criminal
Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
(d) A defendant has a right to counsel at a hearing under
this section. The court shall appoint counsel for an indigent
defendant in accordance with Article 26.04.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a criminal proceeding that commences on or after the effective
date of this Act. A criminal proceeding that commences before the
effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect when the
proceeding commenced, and the former law is continued in effect for
that purpose.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.