| 1 | | - | By: Bettencourt, et al. S.B. No. 990 |
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| 3 | | - | |
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| 1 | + | By: Bettencourt S.B. No. 990 |
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| 2 | + | (In the Senate - Filed January 29, 2025; February 13, 2025, |
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| 3 | + | read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice; |
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| 4 | + | March 19, 2025, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 7, |
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| 5 | + | Nays 0; March 19, 2025, sent to printer.) |
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| 6 | + | Click here to see the committee vote |
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| 11 | | - | SECTION 1. Section 1(b), Article 37.071, Code of Criminal |
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| 14 | + | SECTION 1. Section 19.03(a), Penal Code, is amended to read |
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| 15 | + | as follows: |
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| 16 | + | (a) A person commits an offense if the person commits murder |
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| 17 | + | as defined under Section 19.02(b)(1) and: |
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| 18 | + | (1) the person murders a peace officer or fireman who |
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| 19 | + | is acting in the lawful discharge of an official duty and who the |
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| 20 | + | person knows is a peace officer or fireman; |
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| 21 | + | (2) the person intentionally commits the murder in the |
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| 22 | + | course of committing or attempting to commit kidnapping, burglary, |
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| 23 | + | robbery, aggravated sexual assault, arson, obstruction or |
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| 24 | + | retaliation, or terroristic threat under Section 22.07(a)(1), (3), |
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| 25 | + | (4), (5), or (6); |
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| 26 | + | (3) the person commits the murder for remuneration or |
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| 27 | + | the promise of remuneration or employs another to commit the murder |
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| 28 | + | for remuneration or the promise of remuneration; |
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| 29 | + | (4) the person commits the murder while escaping or |
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| 30 | + | attempting to escape from a penal institution; |
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| 31 | + | (5) the person, while incarcerated in a penal |
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| 32 | + | institution, murders another: |
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| 33 | + | (A) who is employed in the operation of the penal |
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| 34 | + | institution; or |
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| 35 | + | (B) with the intent to establish, maintain, or |
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| 36 | + | participate in a combination or in the profits of a combination; |
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| 37 | + | (6) the person: |
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| 38 | + | (A) while incarcerated for an offense under this |
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| 39 | + | section or Section 19.02, murders another; or |
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| 40 | + | (B) while serving a sentence of life imprisonment |
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| 41 | + | or a term of 99 years for an offense under Section 20.04, 22.021, or |
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| 42 | + | 29.03, murders another; |
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| 43 | + | (7) the person murders more than one person: |
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| 44 | + | (A) during the same criminal transaction; or |
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| 45 | + | (B) during different criminal transactions but |
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| 46 | + | the murders are committed pursuant to the same scheme or course of |
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| 47 | + | conduct; |
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| 48 | + | (8) the person murders an individual under 15 [10] |
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| 49 | + | years of age; or |
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| 50 | + | (9) [the person murders an individual 10 years of age |
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| 51 | + | or older but younger than 15 years of age; or |
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| 52 | + | [(10)] the person murders another person in |
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| 53 | + | retaliation for or on account of the service or status of the other |
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| 54 | + | person as a judge or justice of the supreme court, the court of |
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| 55 | + | criminal appeals, a court of appeals, a district court, a criminal |
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| 56 | + | district court, a constitutional county court, a statutory county |
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| 57 | + | court, a justice court, or a municipal court. |
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| 58 | + | SECTION 2. Section 1(b), Article 37.071, Code of Criminal |
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