Bill Text: TX HB541 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Introduced


Bill Title: Relating to the electronic recording of certain custodial interrogations.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-04-09 - Left pending in committee [HB541 Detail]

Download: Texas-2015-HB541-Introduced.html
  84R3268 MEW-D
 
  By: Canales H.B. No. 541
 
 
 
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 of a custodial interrogation 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 of the 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 an offense under:
               (1)  Section 19.02, Penal Code (murder);
               (2)  Section 19.03, Penal Code (capital murder);
               (3)  Section 20.03, Penal Code (kidnapping);
               (4)  Section 20.04, Penal Code (aggravated
  kidnapping);
               (5)  Section 20A.02, Penal Code (trafficking of
  persons);
               (6)  Section 20A.03, Penal Code (continuous
  trafficking of persons);
               (7)  Section 21.02, Penal Code (continuous sexual abuse
  of young child or children);
               (8)  Section 21.11, Penal Code (indecency with a
  child);
               (9)  Section 21.12, Penal Code (improper relationship
  between educator and student);
               (10)  Section 22.011, Penal Code (sexual assault);
               (11)  Section 22.021, Penal Code (aggravated sexual
  assault); or
               (12)  Section 43.25, Penal Code (sexual performance by
  a child).
         (c)  For purposes of Subsection (b), an electronic recording
  of a custodial interrogation is complete only if the recording
  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.
         (d)  A recording of a custodial interrogation that complies
  with this article is exempt from public disclosure except as
  provided by Section 552.108, Government Code.
         (e)  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
  the law enforcement agency has good cause. For purposes of this
  subsection, "good cause" includes:
               (1)  the accused refused to respond to questioning or
  cooperate in a custodial interrogation of which an electronic
  recording was made, provided that:
                     (A)  a contemporaneous recording of the refusal
  was made; or
                     (B)  the peace officer or agent of the law
  enforcement agency conducting the interrogation attempted, in good
  faith, to record the accused's refusal but the accused was
  unwilling to have the refusal recorded, and the peace officer or
  agent contemporaneously, in writing, documented the refusal;
               (2)  the statement was not made exclusively as the
  result of a custodial interrogation, including a statement that was
  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 interrogation attempted, in good faith, to
  record the interrogation but the recording equipment did not
  function, the officer or agent inadvertently operated the equipment
  incorrectly, or the equipment malfunctioned or stopped operating
  without the knowledge of the officer or agent;
               (4)  exigent public safety concerns prevented or
  rendered infeasible the making of an electronic recording of the
  custodial interrogation; or
               (5)  the peace officer or agent of the law enforcement
  agency conducting the interrogation reasonably believed at the time
  the interrogation commenced that the accused interrogated was not
  taken into custody for or being interrogated concerning the
  commission of an offense listed in Subsection (b).
         Art. 2.33.  LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES QUALIFIED TO CONDUCT
  CERTAIN CUSTODIAL INTERROGATIONS. Only a law enforcement agency
  that employs peace officers described by Subdivision (1), (2), (3),
  (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), or (30), Article 2.12, is qualified to
  conduct a custodial interrogation of an individual suspected of
  committing an offense listed in Article 2.32(b).
         SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.
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