| 1 | 1 | | By: Giddings (Senate Sponsor - West) H.B. No. 833 |
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| 2 | 2 | | (In the Senate - Received from the House April 25, 2013; |
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| 3 | 3 | | May 8, 2013, read first time and referred to Committee on |
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| 4 | 4 | | Jurisprudence; May 16, 2013, reported favorably by the following |
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| 5 | 5 | | vote: Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 16, 2013, sent to printer.) |
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| 6 | 6 | | |
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| 7 | 7 | | |
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| 8 | 8 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED |
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| 9 | 9 | | AN ACT |
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| 10 | 10 | | relating to certain procedures regarding an application for a writ |
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| 11 | 11 | | of habeas corpus filed in a noncapital felony case. |
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| 12 | 12 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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| 13 | 13 | | SECTION 1. Section 3(d), Article 11.07, Code of Criminal |
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| 14 | 14 | | Procedure, is amended to read as follows: |
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| 15 | 15 | | (d) If the convicting court decides that there are |
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| 16 | 16 | | controverted, previously unresolved facts which are material to the |
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| 17 | 17 | | legality of the applicant's confinement, it shall enter an order |
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| 18 | 18 | | within 20 days of the expiration of the time allowed for the state |
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| 19 | 19 | | to reply, designating the issues of fact to be resolved. To |
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| 20 | 20 | | resolve those issues the court may order affidavits, depositions, |
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| 21 | 21 | | interrogatories, additional forensic testing, and hearings, as |
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| 22 | 22 | | well as using personal recollection. The state shall pay the cost of |
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| 23 | 23 | | additional forensic testing ordered under this subsection, except |
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| 24 | 24 | | that the applicant shall pay the cost of the testing if the |
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| 25 | 25 | | applicant retains counsel for purposes of filing an application |
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| 26 | 26 | | under this article. The convicting court may appoint an attorney |
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| 27 | 27 | | or a magistrate to hold a hearing and make findings of fact. An |
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| 28 | 28 | | attorney so appointed shall be compensated as provided in Article |
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| 29 | 29 | | 26.05 of this code. It shall be the duty of the reporter who is |
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| 30 | 30 | | designated to transcribe a hearing held pursuant to this article to |
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| 31 | 31 | | prepare a transcript within 15 days of its conclusion. On |
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| 32 | 32 | | completion of the transcript, the reporter shall immediately |
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| 33 | 33 | | transmit the transcript to the clerk of the convicting court. After |
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| 34 | 34 | | the convicting court makes findings of fact or approves the |
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| 35 | 35 | | findings of the person designated to make them, the clerk of the |
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| 36 | 36 | | convicting court shall immediately transmit to the Court of |
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| 37 | 37 | | Criminal Appeals, under one cover, the application, any answers |
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| 38 | 38 | | filed, any motions filed, transcripts of all depositions and |
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| 39 | 39 | | hearings, any affidavits, and any other matters such as official |
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| 40 | 40 | | records used by the court in resolving issues of fact. |
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| 41 | 41 | | SECTION 2. Section 3(d), Article 11.07, Code of Criminal |
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| 42 | 42 | | Procedure, as amended by this Act, applies only to an application |
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| 43 | 43 | | for a writ of habeas corpus filed on or after the effective date of |
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| 44 | 44 | | this Act. An application filed before the effective date of this |
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| 45 | 45 | | Act is covered by the law in effect when the application was filed, |
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| 46 | 46 | | and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. |
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| 47 | 47 | | SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013. |
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| 48 | 48 | | * * * * * |
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