By: West S.B. No. 969
(In the Senate - Filed February 28, 2013; March 12, 2013, read
first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
May 10, 2013, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 4, Nays 3; May 10, 2013,
sent to printer.)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 969 By: Rodriguez
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the electronic recording of certain statements made by
an accused as a result of custodial interrogation.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Article 38.22, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by amending Section 1 and adding Section 9 to read as
follows:
Sec. 1. In this article:
(1) "Place of detention" means a police station or
other building that is a place of operation for a law enforcement
agency, including a municipal police department or county sheriff's
department, and is owned or operated by the law enforcement agency
for the purpose of detaining individuals in connection with the
suspected violation of a penal law. The term does not include a
courthouse.
(2) "Written[, a written] statement of an accused"
means a statement signed by the accused or a statement made by the
accused in his own handwriting or, if the accused is unable to
write, a statement bearing his mark, when the mark has been
witnessed by a person other than a peace officer.
Sec. 9. (a) Each law enforcement agency shall adopt,
implement, and amend as necessary a detailed written policy
requiring that a visual recording by motion picture film,
videotape, or other electronic means be made of any statement made
as a result of a custodial interrogation if:
(1) the custodial interrogation is conducted in a
place of detention; or
(2) the custodial interrogation is conducted outside
of a place of detention, and the law enforcement agency has, at the
site of the interrogation, equipment described by this subsection
that is capable of electronically recording the interrogation.
(b) Evidence of compliance with a policy adopted under this
section or with the minimum requirements of this article concerning
the visual recording of a custodial interrogation is not a
condition precedent to the admissibility of a defendant's statement
under this article, another provision of this chapter, or another
law.
(c) Notwithstanding Article 38.23 as that article relates
to a violation of a state statute, a failure to make a visual
recording of a statement made as a result of a custodial
interrogation in substantial compliance with a policy adopted under
this section or with the minimum requirements of this article does
not prohibit the admission of the statement in the courts of this
state.
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to the admissibility of a statement made by an accused on or after
the effective date of this Act. The admissibility of a statement
made by an accused before the effective date of this Act is governed
by the law in effect when the statement was made, and the former law
is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.
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