85R3078 MEW-F
By: Collier H.B. No. 414
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the electronic recording of certain custodial
interrogations.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 2, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by adding Articles 2.32 and 2.33 to read as follows:
Art. 2.32. ELECTRONIC RECORDING OF CUSTODIAL
INTERROGATIONS. (a) In this article:
(1) "Custodial interrogation" means any investigative
questioning, other than routine questions associated with booking,
by a peace officer during which:
(A) a reasonable person in the position of the
person being interrogated would consider himself or herself to be
in custody; and
(B) a question is asked that is reasonably likely
to elicit an incriminating response.
(2) "Electronic recording" means an audio or
audiovisual electronic recording that begins at or before the time
the person being interrogated receives a warning described by
Section 2(a), Article 38.22, and continues until the time the
interrogation ceases.
(3) "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.
(b) A law enforcement agency qualified under Article 2.33 to
conduct a custodial interrogation regarding an offense shall make
an electronic recording of any custodial interrogation that occurs
in a place of detention and is of a person suspected of committing
or charged with the commission of a felony offense.
(c) An electronic recording of a custodial interrogation
that complies with this article is exempt from public disclosure
except as provided by Section 552.108, Government Code.
(d) A law enforcement agency otherwise required to make an
electronic recording of a custodial interrogation under this
article is excused from the duty to make the electronic recording
if:
(1) the accused refuses to respond to questioning or
cooperate in a custodial interrogation of which an electronic
recording is made, provided that:
(A) a contemporaneous recording of the refusal is
made; or
(B) the peace officer or agent of the law
enforcement agency conducting the interrogation attempts, in good
faith, to record the accused's refusal but the accused is unwilling
to have the refusal recorded, and the peace officer or agent
contemporaneously, in writing, documents the refusal;
(2) the statement is not made as a result of a
custodial interrogation, including a statement that is made
spontaneously by the accused and not in response to a question by a
peace officer;
(3) the peace officer or agent of the law enforcement
agency conducting the custodial interrogation attempts, in good
faith, to record the interrogation, but the recording equipment
does not function and the officer or agent contemporaneously, in
writing, documents the reason why it is not possible to delay the
interrogation; or
(4) the peace officer or agent of the law enforcement
agency conducting the custodial interrogation reasonably believes
at the time the interrogation commences that the accused to be
interrogated was not taken into custody for or being interrogated
concerning the commission of a felony offense.
Art. 2.33. LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES QUALIFIED TO CONDUCT
CERTAIN CUSTODIAL INTERROGATIONS. Only a law enforcement agency
that employs peace officers described by Article 2.12(1), (2), (3),
(4), (5), (6), (7), (8), or (29) is qualified to conduct a custodial
interrogation of an individual suspected of committing a felony
offense.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.