83R8888 JRR-F
By: West S.B. No. 1270
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to prohibiting seeking or imposing the death penalty on
the basis of a person's race.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Title 1, Code of Criminal Procedure, is amended
by adding Chapter 53 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 53. PROCEDURE IN CERTAIN DEATH PENALTY CASES
Art. 53.01. RACIAL DISCRIMINATION PROHIBITED. No person
shall be subject to or given a sentence of death or executed under
any judgment that was sought or obtained on the basis of race.
Art. 53.02. PROOF OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION; PROCEDURE. (a)
The defendant has the burden of proving by a preponderance of the
evidence that race was a significant factor in the decision to seek
or impose the sentence of death in the county at the time the death
sentence was sought or imposed.
(b) The state may offer evidence in rebuttal of the
defendant's claims or evidence, including statistical evidence.
The court may consider evidence of the impact on the defendant's
trial of any program the purpose of which is to eliminate race as a
factor in seeking or imposing a sentence of death.
(c) Evidence to establish a finding that race was a
significant factor in the decision to seek or impose the sentence of
death in the county at the time the death sentence was sought or
imposed may include:
(1) statistical evidence derived from the county where
the defendant was sentenced to death, including evidence that death
sentences were sought or imposed more frequently as punishment for
capital offenses against persons of one race than as punishment for
capital offenses against persons of another race; or
(2) other evidence specific to the defendant's case
showing that the race of the defendant was a significant factor in
the decision to seek or impose the sentence of death, including
evidence showing that race was a significant factor in the decision
to exercise peremptory challenges during jury selection.
(d) The evidence under Subsection (c)(2) may include sworn
testimony of an attorney, prosecutor, law enforcement officer,
judicial officer, juror, or other person involved in the criminal
justice system. Testimony by a juror under this subsection must
comply with Rule 606(b), Texas Rules of Evidence.
(e) A motion filed under this article must state with
particularity how the evidence supports a claim that race was a
significant factor in the decision to seek or impose the sentence of
death in the county at the time the death sentence was sought or
imposed. The claim must be raised by the defendant at the pretrial
conference or hearing under Article 28.01 and may be raised by the
defendant in any postconviction proceeding. The court shall set a
hearing on the claim and may prescribe a time before the hearing for
each party to present a summary of the evidence the party intends to
introduce.
(f) If the court finds that race was a significant factor in
a decision to seek or impose the sentence of death at the time the
death sentence was sought or imposed, the court shall order that a
death sentence not be sought, or that the death sentence imposed by
the judgment be vacated and the defendant resentenced to life
imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
(g) Filing a motion under this article does not limit or
restrict the defendant's eligibility for any other postconviction
procedure authorized by this code, including another action under
this chapter. The provisions of Article 28.01 prohibiting further
adjudication of certain matters not raised at a pretrial hearing do
not apply to matters related to a defendant's motion under this
article.
SECTION 2. (a) Chapter 53, Code of Criminal Procedure, as
added by this Act, applies to a defendant alleged to have committed
a capital offense regardless of whether the alleged offense was
committed before, on, or after the effective date of this Act.
(b) Notwithstanding Article 53.02(e), Code of Criminal
Procedure, as added by this Act, prescribing the proceedings at
which a claim under Article 53.02 may be raised, a person sentenced
to death before the effective date of this Act who is not otherwise
eligible to file a motion under this chapter in a postconviction
proceeding may file a separate motion under Article 53.02, Code of
Criminal Procedure, as added by this Act, but not after the first
anniversary of the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.