By: Gutierrez S.B. No. 1739
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the punishment for certain conduct constituting the
offense of murder and providing for the prosecution of that conduct
as capital murder; increasing a criminal penalty.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 19.03(a), Penal Code, is amended to read
as follows:
(a) A person commits an offense if the person commits murder
as defined under Section 19.02(b)(1) and:
(1) the person murders a peace officer or fireman who
is acting in the lawful discharge of an official duty and who the
person knows is a peace officer or fireman;
(2) the person intentionally commits the murder in the
course of committing or attempting to commit kidnapping, burglary,
robbery, aggravated sexual assault, arson, obstruction or
retaliation, or terroristic threat under Section 22.07(a)(1), (3),
(4), (5), or (6);
(3) the person commits the murder for remuneration or
the promise of remuneration or employs another to commit the murder
for remuneration or the promise of remuneration;
(4) the person commits the murder while escaping or
attempting to escape from a penal institution;
(5) the person, while incarcerated in a penal
institution, murders another:
(A) who is employed in the operation of the penal
institution; or
(B) with the intent to establish, maintain, or
participate in a combination or in the profits of a combination;
(6) the person:
(A) while incarcerated for an offense under this
section or Section 19.02, murders another; or
(B) while serving a sentence of life imprisonment
or a term of 99 years for an offense under Section 20.04, 22.021, or
29.03, murders another;
(7) the person murders more than one person:
(A) during the same criminal transaction; or
(B) during different criminal transactions but
the murders are committed pursuant to the same scheme or course of
conduct;
(8) the person murders an individual under 10 years of
age;
(9) the person murders an individual 10 years of age or
older but younger than 15 years of age; [or]
(10) the person murders another person in retaliation
for or on account of the service or status of the other person as a
judge or justice of the supreme court, the court of criminal
appeals, a court of appeals, a district court, a criminal district
court, a constitutional county court, a statutory county court, a
justice court, or a municipal court; or
(11) the person murders a student or educational
employee in an educational facility.
SECTION 2. Section 12.31, Penal Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 12.31. CAPITAL FELONY. (a) An individual adjudged
guilty of a capital felony in a case in which the state seeks the
death penalty shall be punished by imprisonment in the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice for life without parole or by death.
An individual adjudged guilty of a capital felony in a case in which
the state does not seek the death penalty shall be punished by
imprisonment in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for:
(1) life, if the individual committed the offense when
younger than 18 years of age; [or]
(2) life without parole, if the individual committed
the offense when 18 years of age or older[.]; or
(3) life without parole, if the individual committed
the offense against a student or educational employee at an
educational facility.
(b) In a capital felony trial in which the state seeks the
death penalty, prospective jurors shall be informed that a sentence
of life imprisonment without parole or death is mandatory on
conviction of a capital felony. In a capital felony trial in which
the state does not seek the death penalty, prospective jurors shall
be informed that the state is not seeking the death penalty and
that:
(1) a sentence of life imprisonment is mandatory on
conviction of the capital felony, if the individual committed the
offense when younger than 18 years of age; or
(2) a sentence of life imprisonment without parole is
mandatory on conviction of the capital felony, if the individual
committed the offense when 18 years of age or older.
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
Act. An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed,
and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For
purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the
effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred
before that date.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.