Bill Text: TX SB1740 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to the applicability of the death penalty to a capital offense committed by a person with an intellectual disability.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-03-23 - Referred to Criminal Justice [SB1740 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-SB1740-Introduced.html
85R5861 ADM-D | ||
By: Miles | S.B. No. 1740 |
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relating to the applicability of the death penalty to a capital | ||
offense committed by a person with an intellectual disability. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Title 1, Code of Criminal Procedure, is amended | ||
by adding Chapter 46D to read as follows: | ||
CHAPTER 46D. CAPITAL CASE: EFFECT OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY | ||
Art. 46D.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter: | ||
(1) "Adaptive behavior" means the effectiveness with | ||
or degree to which a person meets generally recognized standards of | ||
personal independence and social responsibility by using learned | ||
conceptual, social, and practical skills in everyday life. | ||
(2) "Intellectual disability" means significant | ||
limitations in intellectual functioning that are concurrent with | ||
significant deficits in adaptive behavior, including conceptual, | ||
social, and practical skills, if those characteristics originate | ||
during the developmental period. | ||
(3) "Person with an intellectual disability" means a | ||
person with significant limitations in intellectual functioning | ||
that are concurrent with significant deficits in adaptive behavior, | ||
including conceptual, social, and practical skills, if those | ||
characteristics originated during the person's developmental | ||
period, as determined by a clinician in the exercise of clinical | ||
judgment. | ||
(4) "Significant limitations in intellectual | ||
functioning" refers to a measured intelligence quotient on a | ||
standardized psychometric instrument of two or more standard | ||
deviations below the age-group mean for the test used. | ||
Art. 46D.002. RESTRICTION ON DEATH PENALTY. A defendant | ||
who is a person with an intellectual disability may not be sentenced | ||
to death. | ||
Art. 46D.003. HEARING. (a) Counsel for a defendant in a | ||
capital case, not later than the 30th day before the trial | ||
commences, may request that the judge hearing the case hold a | ||
hearing to determine whether the defendant is a person with an | ||
intellectual disability. | ||
(b) If the defendant does not give timely notice as provided | ||
by Subsection (a), the court may not hold a hearing described by | ||
this article unless the court finds that good cause existed for | ||
failure to give timely notice. | ||
(c) On receipt of a request under Subsection (a), the judge | ||
shall notify all interested parties of the request. If the judge | ||
determines that there is evidence to support a finding that the | ||
defendant is a person with an intellectual disability, a jury shall | ||
be impaneled to determine that issue. A defendant may waive the | ||
right to jury determination under this subsection and request that | ||
the judge make the determination if the court and the prosecuting | ||
attorney do not object. | ||
(d) Instructions to the jury submitting the issue of whether | ||
the defendant is a person with an intellectual disability shall | ||
require the jury to state its finding on that issue in the verdict. | ||
(e) If the jury is unable to agree on a unanimous verdict | ||
after a reasonable opportunity to deliberate, the judge shall | ||
declare a mistrial, discharge the jury, and impanel another jury to | ||
determine whether the defendant is a person with an intellectual | ||
disability. | ||
(f) At the conclusion of the hearing under this article, the | ||
judge shall dismiss the jury, and the members of that jury may not | ||
serve on a jury in the subsequent trial of the case. | ||
Art. 46D.004. BURDEN OF PROOF. (a) At a hearing under this | ||
chapter, the burden is on the defendant to prove by a preponderance | ||
of the evidence that the defendant is a person with an intellectual | ||
disability. | ||
(b) A defendant who has an intelligence quotient of 75 or | ||
less is presumed to be a person with an intellectual disability. | ||
(c) A determination made by a qualified institution or | ||
individual, including a psychologist, an educational institution, | ||
a local mental health authority, a local intellectual and | ||
developmental disability authority, the United States Social | ||
Security Administration, a court, or another governmental agency or | ||
social service provider that a defendant is a person with an | ||
intellectual disability, as defined by the law of this state or any | ||
other state, creates an evidentiary presumption that the defendant | ||
is a person with an intellectual disability. | ||
(d) The state may offer evidence to rebut the defendant's | ||
claim or a presumption under Subsection (b) or (c). | ||
Art. 46D.005. SENTENCING ALTERNATIVES. (a) If the judge or | ||
jury, whichever is the finder of fact, determines that the | ||
defendant is a person with an intellectual disability and the | ||
defendant is subsequently convicted of the alleged offense, Article | ||
37.071 does not apply to the defendant, and the judge shall sentence | ||
the defendant to imprisonment in the Texas Department of Criminal | ||
Justice for life without parole. | ||
(b) If the judge or jury, whichever is the finder of fact, | ||
determines that the defendant is not a person with an intellectual | ||
disability, the judge shall conduct the trial in the same manner as | ||
if a hearing under this chapter had not been held. At the trial of | ||
the offense: | ||
(1) the jury may not be informed of the fact that the | ||
judge or a jury has determined under this article that the defendant | ||
is not a person with an intellectual disability; and | ||
(2) the defendant may present evidence of intellectual | ||
disability as permitted by Article 37.071. | ||
(c) The judge or jury, whichever is the finder of fact, | ||
must, before the trial of the alleged offense commences, make a | ||
determination under Subsection (a) or (b). | ||
Art. 46D.006. APPOINTMENT OF DISINTERESTED EXPERTS. On the | ||
request of either party or on the judge's own motion, the judge | ||
shall appoint disinterested experts experienced and qualified in | ||
the field of diagnosing intellectual disabilities to examine the | ||
defendant and determine whether the defendant is a person with an | ||
intellectual disability. The judge may order the defendant to | ||
submit to an examination by experts appointed under this article. | ||
Art. 46D.007. INTERLOCUTORY APPEAL. (a) The defendant and | ||
the state are entitled to appeal a determination described by | ||
Article 46D.005(b). | ||
(b) The court of criminal appeals shall adopt rules as | ||
necessary for the administration of the appeals process established | ||
by this article. | ||
(c) An appeal under this article is a direct appeal to the | ||
court of criminal appeals, and the court of criminal appeals, as | ||
provided by court rule, shall give priority to the review of an | ||
appeal under this article over other cases before the court. | ||
Art. 46D.008. CONSTRUCTION WITH OTHER LAW. If the judge or | ||
jury, whichever is the finder of fact, determines that the | ||
defendant is not a person with an intellectual disability and the | ||
defendant is subsequently convicted of the alleged offense, the | ||
fact finder's determination: | ||
(1) does not preclude the defendant from filing a | ||
motion under Article 46.05; and | ||
(2) notwithstanding Article 46.05(j), is not | ||
admissible as evidence in a hearing under Article 46.05. | ||
SECTION 2. Chapter 6, Penal Code, is amended by adding | ||
Section 6.05 to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 6.05. INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY AFFECTING DEATH | ||
SENTENCE. (a) In this section, "intellectual disability" and | ||
"person with an intellectual disability" have the meanings assigned | ||
by Article 46D.001, Code of Criminal Procedure. | ||
(b) A person with an intellectual disability may not be | ||
punished by death. | ||
(c) A person who is sentenced to death at a trial that | ||
commences before September 1, 2017, may submit to the convicting | ||
court a motion for a hearing on the issue of whether the person is a | ||
person with an intellectual disability, to be conducted in the same | ||
manner as a hearing under Chapter 46D, Code of Criminal Procedure. | ||
On a finding by the court that documentary evidence supports an | ||
assertion that the person is a person with an intellectual | ||
disability, the court may order a hearing that, except for | ||
occurring after sentencing, is conducted in the same manner as a | ||
hearing under Chapter 46D, Code of Criminal Procedure. After | ||
making a finding as to whether the person is a person with an | ||
intellectual disability, the court shall immediately forward a copy | ||
of the finding to the court of criminal appeals. | ||
(d) A finding under this section that the person is not a | ||
person with an intellectual disability does not preclude the person | ||
from filing a motion under Article 46.05, Code of Criminal | ||
Procedure, and is not admissible as evidence in a hearing under that | ||
article. A finding under Article 46.05 that the person is competent | ||
to be executed does not preclude the person from filing a motion | ||
under this section and is not admissible as evidence in a hearing | ||
under this section. | ||
SECTION 3. Chapter 46D, Code of Criminal Procedure, as | ||
added by this Act, applies only to a trial that commences on or | ||
after the effective date of this Act, regardless of whether the | ||
alleged offense was committed before, on, or after that date. | ||
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017. |