Bill Text: TX HB1670 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to the applicability of the death penalty to a capital offense committed by a person with mental retardation.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-03-29 - Left pending in committee [HB1670 Detail]
Download: Texas-2011-HB1670-Introduced.html
82R7021 JSC-F | ||
By: Coleman | H.B. No. 1670 |
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relating to the applicability of the death penalty to a capital | ||
offense committed by a person with mental retardation. | ||
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 MENTAL RETARDATION | ||
Art. 46D.01. 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) "Mental retardation" 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 mental retardation" 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.02. RESTRICTION ON DEATH PENALTY. A defendant who | ||
at the time of commission of a capital offense was a person with | ||
mental retardation may not be sentenced to death. | ||
Art. 46D.03. 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 was a person with mental | ||
retardation at the time of the commission of the alleged offense. | ||
(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 of mental | ||
retardation, a jury shall be impaneled to determine whether the | ||
defendant was a person with mental retardation 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 court and the prosecuting | ||
attorney do not object. | ||
(d) Instructions to the jury submitting the issue of mental | ||
retardation shall require the jury to state in its verdict whether | ||
the defendant was a person with mental retardation at the time of | ||
the commission of the alleged offense. | ||
(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 was a person with mental | ||
retardation at the time of the commission of the alleged offense. | ||
(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.04. 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 was a person with mental | ||
retardation at the time of the commission of the alleged offense. | ||
(b) A defendant who has an intelligence quotient of 75 or | ||
less is presumed to be a person who was a person with mental | ||
retardation at the time of the commission of the alleged offense. | ||
(c) A determination made before the commission of the | ||
alleged offense by a qualified institution or individual, including | ||
a psychologist, an educational institution, a local mental health | ||
and mental retardation authority, the United States Social Security | ||
Administration, a court, or another governmental agency or social | ||
service provider that a defendant is a person with mental | ||
retardation, as defined by the law of this state or any other state, | ||
creates an evidentiary presumption that the defendant was a person | ||
with mental retardation at the time of the commission of the alleged | ||
offense. | ||
(d) The state may offer evidence to rebut a presumption of | ||
mental retardation or the defendant's claim. | ||
Art. 46D.05. SENTENCING ALTERNATIVES. (a) If the judge or | ||
jury, whichever is the finder of fact, determines that the | ||
defendant was a person with mental retardation at the time of the | ||
commission of the alleged offense and the defendant is subsequently | ||
convicted of the 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 was not a person with mental | ||
retardation 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 article that the defendant | ||
was not a person with mental retardation; and | ||
(2) the defendant may present at trial evidence of | ||
mental disability as permitted by Article 37.071. | ||
(c) The judge or jury, whichever is the finder of fact, | ||
must, before the trial of the offense under Section 19.03, Penal | ||
Code, commences, make the determination described by Subsection | ||
(b). | ||
Art. 46D.06. 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 mental retardation to examine the defendant | ||
and determine whether the defendant is a person with mental | ||
retardation. The judge may order the defendant to submit to an | ||
examination by experts appointed under this article. | ||
Art. 46D.07. INTERLOCUTORY APPEAL. (a) The defendant and | ||
the state are entitled to appeal a determination described by | ||
Article 46D.05(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.08. CONSTRUCTION WITH OTHER LAW. If the judge or | ||
jury, whichever is the finder of fact, determines that the | ||
defendant was not a person with mental retardation at the time of | ||
the commission of the alleged offense and the defendant is | ||
subsequently convicted of the 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. MENTAL RETARDATION AFFECTING DEATH SENTENCE. | ||
(a) In this section, "mental retardation" and "person with mental | ||
retardation" have the meanings assigned by Article 46D.01, Code of | ||
Criminal Procedure. | ||
(b) A person may not be punished by death for an offense | ||
committed while the person was a person with mental retardation. | ||
(c) A person who is sentenced to death at a trial that | ||
commences before September 1, 2011, may submit to the convicting | ||
court a motion for a hearing on the issue of mental retardation, 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 was a person with | ||
mental retardation at the time of the commission of the alleged | ||
offense, 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 was a person with mental retardation, 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 was not a | ||
person with mental retardation at the time of the commission of the | ||
alleged offense 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, 2011. |