Bill Text: TX HB136 | 2017 | 85th Legislature 1st Special Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to the applicability of the death penalty to a capital offense committed by a person with severe mental illness.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-08-02 - Left pending in committee [HB136 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-HB136-Introduced.html
85S10652 ADM-D | ||
By: Rose | H.B. No. 136 |
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relating to the applicability of the death penalty to a capital | ||
offense committed by a person with severe mental illness. | ||
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 SEVERE MENTAL ILLNESS | ||
Art. 46D.001. DEFINITION. In this chapter, "person with | ||
severe mental illness" means a person who has a psychiatric illness | ||
listed in Section 1355.001(1), Insurance Code, and as a result of | ||
that illness has active psychotic symptoms that substantially | ||
impair the person's capacity to: | ||
(1) appreciate the nature, consequences, or | ||
wrongfulness of the person's conduct; | ||
(2) exercise rational judgment in relation to the | ||
person's conduct; or | ||
(3) conform the person's conduct to the requirements | ||
of the law. | ||
Art. 46D.002. RESTRICTION ON DEATH PENALTY. A defendant | ||
who at the time of commission of a capital offense was a person with | ||
severe mental illness may not be sentenced to death. | ||
Art. 46D.003. HEARING. (a) Not later than the 30th day | ||
before the date trial begins, counsel for a defendant in a capital | ||
case may file notice requesting that the judge hearing the case hold | ||
a hearing to determine whether the defendant was a person with | ||
severe mental illness at the time of the commission of the alleged | ||
offense. | ||
(b) Notice filed under Subsection (a) must be accompanied by | ||
evidence supporting the claim that the defendant was a person with | ||
severe mental illness at the time of the commission of the alleged | ||
offense. | ||
(c) If the defendant does not file timely notice as provided | ||
by Subsection (a), the court may not hold a hearing under this | ||
article unless the court finds that good cause existed for failure | ||
to file timely notice. | ||
(d) On receipt of notice under Subsection (a), the judge | ||
shall notify all interested parties of the notice. If the judge | ||
determines that the notice was timely and was accompanied by the | ||
supporting evidence required by Subsection (b), a jury shall be | ||
impaneled to determine whether the defendant was a person with | ||
severe mental illness at the time of the commission of the alleged | ||
offense. A defendant may waive the right to jury determination | ||
under this subsection and request that the judge make the | ||
determination if the judge and the prosecuting attorney do not | ||
object. | ||
(e) If the judge finds that the notice was not timely filed | ||
or was not accompanied by the supporting evidence required by | ||
Subsection (b), the judge shall: | ||
(1) deny the defendant's request; | ||
(2) make written findings of fact explaining the | ||
grounds for denial; | ||
(3) provide the findings of fact to all interested | ||
parties; and | ||
(4) file a copy of the findings of fact with the papers | ||
in the case. | ||
(f) Instructions submitted to the jury on the issue of | ||
severe mental illness shall require the jury to state in its verdict | ||
whether the defendant was a person with severe mental illness at the | ||
time of the commission of the alleged offense. | ||
(g) 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 was a person with severe mental | ||
illness at the time of the commission of the alleged offense. | ||
(h) 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 any subsequent trial of the case. | ||
Art. 46D.004. BURDEN OF PROOF. At a hearing under this | ||
chapter, the burden is on the defendant to prove by a preponderance | ||
of the evidence that the defendant was a person with severe mental | ||
illness at the time of the commission of the alleged offense. | ||
Art. 46D.005. PRESUMPTION OF SEVERE MENTAL ILLNESS. (a) A | ||
determination made before the commission of the alleged offense by | ||
a qualified institution or individual, including a psychologist, an | ||
educational institution, 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 had symptoms of a psychiatric | ||
illness listed in Section 1355.001(1), Insurance Code, creates an | ||
evidentiary presumption that the defendant was a person with severe | ||
mental illness at the time of the commission of the alleged offense. | ||
(b) The state may offer evidence to rebut a presumption of | ||
severe mental illness. | ||
Art. 46D.006. SENTENCING ALTERNATIVES. (a) If the judge or | ||
jury, whichever is the finder of fact, determines that the | ||
defendant was a person with severe mental illness at the time of the | ||
commission of the alleged offense and the defendant is subsequently | ||
convicted of capital murder, 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 was not a person with severe mental | ||
illness at the time of the commission of the alleged offense, 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 chapter that the defendant | ||
was not a person with severe mental illness; and | ||
(2) the defendant may present evidence of mental | ||
disability as permitted by Article 37.071. | ||
(c) The judge or jury, whichever is the finder of fact, must | ||
make any determination described by this article before the date | ||
the trial of the alleged capital offense begins. | ||
Art. 46D.007. APPOINTMENT OF DISINTERESTED EXPERTS. (a) On | ||
the request of either party or on the judge's own motion, the judge | ||
shall appoint one or more disinterested experts experienced and | ||
qualified in the field of diagnosing mental illness to examine the | ||
defendant and determine whether the defendant is a person with | ||
severe mental illness. | ||
(b) The judge may, after giving proper notice to the | ||
defendant, order the defendant to submit to an examination by | ||
experts appointed under this article. | ||
(c) An examination described by this article: | ||
(1) must be narrowly tailored to determine whether the | ||
defendant has the specific illness claimed; and | ||
(2) may not include: | ||
(A) any discussion of the alleged offense; | ||
(B) personality or intellectual testing; or | ||
(C) a future danger assessment. | ||
(d) An expert appointed under this article must provide the | ||
counsel for the defendant with all underlying notes and data | ||
related to the examination. | ||
Art. 46D.008. STATEMENTS NOT ADMISSIBLE. No statement made | ||
by the defendant in a hearing or examination under this chapter may | ||
be admitted into evidence during the trial of the alleged offense. | ||
Art. 46D.009. INTERLOCUTORY APPEAL. Neither the defendant | ||
nor the state is entitled to an interlocutory appeal of a | ||
determination made under this chapter. | ||
SECTION 2. Chapter 46D, Code of Criminal Procedure, as | ||
added by this Act, applies only to a trial that begins on or after | ||
the effective date of this Act, regardless of whether the alleged | ||
offense was committed before, on, or after that date. | ||
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect December 1, 2017. |