| 1 | 1 | | By: West S.B. No. 252 |
|---|
| 2 | 2 | | (In the Senate - Filed January 25, 2013; January 29, 2013, |
|---|
| 3 | 3 | | read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice; |
|---|
| 4 | 4 | | March 13, 2013, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 6, |
|---|
| 5 | 5 | | Nays 0; March 13, 2013, sent to printer.) |
|---|
| 6 | 6 | | |
|---|
| 7 | 7 | | |
|---|
| 8 | 8 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED |
|---|
| 9 | 9 | | AN ACT |
|---|
| 10 | 10 | | relating to certain procedures regarding an application for a writ |
|---|
| 11 | 11 | | of habeas corpus filed in a noncapital felony case. |
|---|
| 12 | 12 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|---|
| 13 | 13 | | SECTION 1. Subsection (d), Section 3, Article 11.07, Code |
|---|
| 14 | 14 | | of Criminal Procedure, is amended to read as follows: |
|---|
| 15 | 15 | | (d) If the convicting court decides that there are |
|---|
| 16 | 16 | | controverted, previously unresolved facts which are material to the |
|---|
| 17 | 17 | | legality of the applicant's confinement, it shall enter an order |
|---|
| 18 | 18 | | within 20 days of the expiration of the time allowed for the state |
|---|
| 19 | 19 | | to reply, designating the issues of fact to be resolved. To resolve |
|---|
| 20 | 20 | | those issues the court may order affidavits, depositions, |
|---|
| 21 | 21 | | interrogatories, additional forensic testing, and hearings, as |
|---|
| 22 | 22 | | well as using personal recollection. The state shall pay the cost |
|---|
| 23 | 23 | | of additional forensic testing ordered under this subsection, |
|---|
| 24 | 24 | | except that the applicant shall pay the cost of the testing if the |
|---|
| 25 | 25 | | applicant retains counsel for purposes of filing an application |
|---|
| 26 | 26 | | under this article. The convicting court may appoint an attorney or |
|---|
| 27 | 27 | | a magistrate to hold a hearing and make findings of fact. An |
|---|
| 28 | 28 | | attorney so appointed shall be compensated as provided in Article |
|---|
| 29 | 29 | | 26.05 of this code. It shall be the duty of the reporter who is |
|---|
| 30 | 30 | | designated to transcribe a hearing held pursuant to this article to |
|---|
| 31 | 31 | | prepare a transcript within 15 days of its conclusion. On |
|---|
| 32 | 32 | | completion of the transcript, the reporter shall immediately |
|---|
| 33 | 33 | | transmit the transcript to the clerk of the convicting court. After |
|---|
| 34 | 34 | | the convicting court makes findings of fact or approves the |
|---|
| 35 | 35 | | findings of the person designated to make them, the clerk of the |
|---|
| 36 | 36 | | convicting court shall immediately transmit to the Court of |
|---|
| 37 | 37 | | Criminal Appeals, under one cover, the application, any answers |
|---|
| 38 | 38 | | filed, any motions filed, transcripts of all depositions and |
|---|
| 39 | 39 | | hearings, any affidavits, and any other matters such as official |
|---|
| 40 | 40 | | records used by the court in resolving issues of fact. |
|---|
| 41 | 41 | | SECTION 2. Subsection (d), Section 3, Article 11.07, Code |
|---|
| 42 | 42 | | of Criminal Procedure, as amended by this Act, applies only to an |
|---|
| 43 | 43 | | application for a writ of habeas corpus filed on or after the |
|---|
| 44 | 44 | | effective date of this Act. An application filed before the |
|---|
| 45 | 45 | | effective date of this Act is covered by the law in effect when the |
|---|
| 46 | 46 | | application was filed, and the former law is continued in effect for |
|---|
| 47 | 47 | | that purpose. |
|---|
| 48 | 48 | | SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013. |
|---|
| 49 | 49 | | * * * * * |
|---|