Bill Text: TX SB1739 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: 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.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-03-16 - Referred to Criminal Justice [SB1739 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-SB1739-Introduced.html
| By: Gutierrez | S.B. No. 1739 | |
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| 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; [ |
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| (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; [ |
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| (2) life without parole, if the individual committed | ||
| the offense when 18 years of age or older[ |
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| (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. | ||
