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.