By: Buckingham S.B. No. 631
(In the Senate - Filed January 26, 2017; February 13, 2017,
read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
May 3, 2017, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 6,
Nays 0; May 3, 2017, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to venue for the disposition of stolen property.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Articles 47.01a(a) and (d), Code of Criminal
Procedure, are amended to read as follows:
(a) If a criminal action relating to allegedly stolen
property is not pending, a district judge, county court judge,
statutory county court judge, or justice of the peace having
jurisdiction as a magistrate in the county in which the property is
held or in which the property was alleged to have been stolen or a
municipal judge having jurisdiction as a magistrate in the
municipality in which the property is being held or in which the
property was alleged to have been stolen may hold a hearing to
determine the right to possession of the property, upon the
petition of an interested person, a county, a city, or the state.
Jurisdiction under this article [section] is based solely on
jurisdiction as a criminal magistrate under this code and not
jurisdiction as a civil court. The court shall:
(1) order the property delivered to whoever has the
superior right to possession, without conditions; [or]
(2) on the filing of a written motion before trial by
an attorney representing the state, order the property delivered to
whoever has the superior right to possession, subject to the
condition that the property be made available to the prosecuting
authority should it be needed in future prosecutions; or
(3) order the property awarded to the custody of the
peace officer, pending resolution of criminal investigations
regarding the property.
(d) Venue for a hearing under this article is in any
justice, county, statutory county, or district court in the county
in which the property is seized or in which the property was alleged
to have been stolen or in any municipal court in any municipality in
which the property is seized or in which the property was alleged to
have been stolen, except that the court may transfer venue to a
court in another county on the motion of any interested party.
SECTION 2. Article 47.02(b), Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended to read as follows:
(b) On written consent of the prosecuting attorney and
following an order described by Subsection (a), any magistrate
having jurisdiction in the county in which the property was alleged
to have been stolen or, if the [a] criminal action for theft or any
other offense involving the illegal acquisition of property is
pending in another county, the county in which the action is pending
may hold a hearing to determine the right to possession of the
property. If it is proved to the satisfaction of the magistrate
that any person is a true owner of the property alleged to have been
stolen, and the property is under the control of a peace officer,
the magistrate may, by written order, direct the property to be
restored to that person.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
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