Texas 2015 - 84th Regular

Texas Senate Bill SB181 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	84R613 MEW-D
2	2	By: Ellis S.B. No. 181
3	3
4	4
5	5	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
6	6	AN ACT
7	7	relating to the electronic recording and admissibility of certain
8	8	custodial interrogations.
9	9	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
10	10	SECTION 1. Chapter 2, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
11	11	amended by adding Articles 2.32 and 2.33 to read as follows:
12	12	Art. 2.32. ELECTRONIC RECORDING OF CUSTODIAL
13	13	INTERROGATIONS. (a) In this article:
14	14	(1) "Custodial interrogation" means any investigative
15	15	questioning, other than routine questions associated with booking,
16	16	by a peace officer during which:
17	17	(A) a reasonable person in the position of the
18	18	person being interrogated would consider himself or herself to be
19	19	in custody; and
20	20	(B) a question is asked that is reasonably likely
21	21	to elicit an incriminating response.
22	22	(2) "Law enforcement agency" means an agency of the
23	23	state, or of a county, municipality, or other political subdivision
24	24	of the state, authorized by law to employ peace officers described
25	25	by Subdivision (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), or (8), Article
26	26	2.12.
27	27	(3) "Place of detention" means a police station or
28	28	other building that is a place of operation for a law enforcement
29	29	agency, including a municipal police department or county sheriff's
30	30	department, and is owned or operated by the law enforcement agency
31	31	for the purpose of detaining individuals in connection with the
32	32	suspected violation of a penal law. The term does not include a
33	33	courthouse.
34	34	(b) A law enforcement agency qualified under Article 2.33 to
35	35	conduct a custodial interrogation of the offense shall make a
36	36	complete, contemporaneous, audio or audiovisual electronic
37	37	recording of any custodial interrogation that occurs in a place of
38	38	detention and is of a person suspected of committing or charged with
39	39	the commission of an offense under:
40	40	(1) Section 19.02, Penal Code (murder);
41	41	(2) Section 19.03, Penal Code (capital murder);
42	42	(3) Section 20.03, Penal Code (kidnapping);
43	43	(4) Section 20.04, Penal Code (aggravated
44	44	kidnapping);
45	45	(5) Section 20A.02, Penal Code (trafficking of
46	46	persons);
47	47	(6) Section 20A.03, Penal Code (continuous
48	48	trafficking of persons);
49	49	(7) Section 21.02, Penal Code (continuous sexual abuse
50	50	of young child or children);
51	51	(8) Section 21.11, Penal Code (indecency with a
52	52	child);
53	53	(9) Section 21.12, Penal Code (improper relationship
54	54	between educator and student);
55	55	(10) Section 22.011, Penal Code (sexual assault);
56	56	(11) Section 22.021, Penal Code (aggravated sexual
57	57	assault); or
58	58	(12) Section 43.25, Penal Code (sexual performance by
59	59	a child).
60	60	(c) For purposes of Subsection (b), an electronic recording
61	61	of a custodial interrogation is complete only if the recording
62	62	begins at or before the time the person being interrogated receives
63	63	a warning described by Section 2(a), Article 38.22, and continues
64	64	until the time the interrogation ceases.
65	65	(d) A recording of a custodial interrogation that complies
66	66	with this article is exempt from public disclosure except as
67	67	provided by Section 552.108, Government Code.
68	68	Art. 2.33. LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES QUALIFIED TO CONDUCT
69	69	CERTAIN CUSTODIAL INTERROGATIONS. Only a law enforcement agency
70	70	that employs peace officers described by Subdivision (1), (2), (3),
71	71	(4), (5), (6), (7), or (8), Article 2.12, is qualified to conduct a
72	72	custodial interrogation of an individual suspected of committing an
73	73	offense listed in Article 2.32(b).
74	74	SECTION 2. Section 1, Article 38.22, Code of Criminal
75	75	Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
76	76	Sec. 1. In this article:
77	77	(1) "Electronic recording" means an audio or
78	78	audiovisual electronic recording of a custodial interrogation that
79	79	begins at or before the time the person being interrogated receives
80	80	a warning described by Section 2(a) and continues until the time the
81	81	interrogation ceases.
82	82	(2) "Written [, a written] statement" [of an accused]
83	83	means:
84	84	(A) [(1)] a statement made by the accused in the
85	85	accused's [his] own handwriting; or
86	86	(B) [(2)] a statement made in a language the
87	87	accused can read or understand that:
88	88	(i) [(A)] is signed by the accused; or
89	89	(ii) [(B)] bears the mark of the accused,
90	90	if the accused is unable to write and the mark is witnessed by a
91	91	person other than a peace officer.
92	92	SECTION 3. Sections 3(a) and (b), Article 38.22, Code of
93	93	Criminal Procedure, are amended to read as follows:
94	94	(a) Except as provided by Section 9, no oral, sign language,
95	95	or written statement made as a result of a custodial interrogation
96	96	of a person accused of an offense listed in Article 2.32(b) is
97	97	admissible against the accused in a criminal proceeding, and no
98	98	[No] oral or sign language statement made as a result of a custodial
99	99	interrogation of a person [of an] accused of any other offense is
100	100	[made as a result of custodial interrogation shall be] admissible
101	101	against the accused in a criminal proceeding, unless:
102	102	(1) an electronic recording [, which may include
103	103	motion picture, video tape, or other visual recording,] is made of
104	104	the custodial interrogation [statement];
105	105	(2) after being [prior to the statement but during the
106	106	recording the accused is] given the warning described by Section
107	107	2(a), [in Subsection (a) of Section 2 above and] the accused
108	108	knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waives any rights set out
109	109	in the warning;
110	110	(3) the recording device was capable of making an
111	111	accurate recording, the operator was competent, and the recording
112	112	is accurate and has not been altered;
113	113	(4) all voices on the recording are identified; and
114	114	(5) not later than the 20th day before the date of the
115	115	proceeding, the attorney representing the defendant is provided
116	116	with a true, complete, and accurate copy of all recordings of the
117	117	defendant made under this article.
118	118	(b) Every electronic recording of [any statement made by an
119	119	accused during] a custodial interrogation must be preserved until
120	120	such time as the defendant's conviction for any offense relating
121	121	thereto is final, all direct appeals therefrom are exhausted, or
122	122	the prosecution of such offenses is barred by law.
123	123	SECTION 4. Article 38.22, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
124	124	amended by adding Section 9 to read as follows:
125	125	Sec. 9. An oral, sign language, or written statement of an
126	126	accused made as a result of a custodial interrogation is admissible
127	127	without an electronic recording otherwise required by Section 3(a)
128	128	if the attorney introducing the statement shows good cause for the
129	129	lack of the recording. For purposes of this section, "good cause"
130	130	includes:
131	131	(1) the accused refused to respond to questioning or
132	132	cooperate in a custodial interrogation of which an electronic
133	133	recording was made, provided that:
134	134	(A) a contemporaneous recording of the refusal
135	135	was made; or
136	136	(B) the peace officer or agent of the law
137	137	enforcement agency conducting the interrogation attempted, in good
138	138	faith, to record the accused's refusal but the accused was
139	139	unwilling to have the refusal recorded, and the peace officer or
140	140	agent contemporaneously, in writing, documented the refusal;
141	141	(2) the statement was not made exclusively as the
142	142	result of a custodial interrogation, including a statement that was
143	143	made spontaneously by the accused and not in response to a question
144	144	by a peace officer;
145	145	(3) the peace officer or agent of the law enforcement
146	146	agency conducting the interrogation attempted, in good faith, to
147	147	record the interrogation but the recording equipment did not
148	148	function, the officer or agent inadvertently operated the equipment
149	149	incorrectly, or the equipment malfunctioned or stopped operating
150	150	without the knowledge of the officer or agent;
151	151	(4) exigent public safety concerns prevented or
152	152	rendered infeasible the making of an electronic recording of the
153	153	custodial interrogation; or
154	154	(5) the peace officer or agent of the law enforcement
155	155	agency conducting the interrogation reasonably believed at the time
156	156	the interrogation commenced that the accused interrogated was not
157	157	taken into custody for or being interrogated concerning the
158	158	commission of an offense listed in Article 2.32(b).
159	159	SECTION 5. The changes in law made by this Act apply to the
160	160	use of a statement made as a result of a custodial interrogation
161	161	that occurs on or after the effective date of this Act, regardless
162	162	of whether the criminal offense giving rise to that interrogation
163	163	is committed before, on, or after that date.
164	164	SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.