Bill Text: TX HB29 | 2021 | 87th Legislature 1st Special Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to policies and standards for providing legal representation to indigent defendants in certain capital felony cases.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-07-07 - Filed [HB29 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HB29-Introduced.html
| 87S10053 MEW-F | ||
| By: Gervin-Hawkins | H.B. No. 29 | |
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| relating to policies and standards for providing legal | ||
| representation to indigent defendants in certain capital felony | ||
| cases. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Article 26.052, Code of Criminal Procedure, is | ||
| amended by adding Subsections (c-1), (c-2), (c-3), (c-4), (c-5), | ||
| and (c-6) and amending Subsections (d) and (m) to read as follows: | ||
| (c-1) The local selection committee shall evaluate and | ||
| determine the list of attorneys qualified under this article to be | ||
| appointed to represent indigent defendants in capital cases in | ||
| which the death penalty is sought and post a list of those attorneys | ||
| on the Internet website of each administrative judicial region. | ||
| (c-2) A statewide capital defense training and standards | ||
| committee is created. Each member of the committee must be a | ||
| licensed attorney and must have significant experience in capital | ||
| defense or indigent criminal defense policy or practice. A member | ||
| of the committee may not be a prosecutor, a law enforcement officer, | ||
| or an employee of the office of capital and forensic writs. The | ||
| committee must be composed of nine members, including: | ||
| (1) two judges jointly selected by the presiding | ||
| judges of the administrative judicial regions; | ||
| (2) a criminal defense attorney appointed by the | ||
| president of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association; | ||
| (3) the chief public defender of the Regional Public | ||
| Defender for Capital Cases office, or the chief public defender's | ||
| designee; | ||
| (4) the chief capital defender of a county public | ||
| defender office appointed by the executive director of the Texas | ||
| Indigent Defense Commission; | ||
| (5) a member of the State Bar of Texas committee on | ||
| legal services to the poor in criminal matters selected by the chair | ||
| of the committee; and | ||
| (6) three attorneys appointed by the executive | ||
| director of the Texas Indigent Defense Commission. | ||
| (c-3) Members of the statewide capital defense training and | ||
| standards committee serve four-year terms and may be reappointed. | ||
| If a vacancy occurs, the appropriate appointing authority shall | ||
| appoint a successor in the same manner as the original appointment | ||
| to serve for the remainder of the unexpired term. | ||
| (c-4) The members of the statewide capital defense training | ||
| and standards committee shall select a chair from among the | ||
| committee's members. | ||
| (c-5) A member of the statewide capital defense training and | ||
| standards committee may not receive compensation for services on | ||
| the committee but is entitled to be reimbursed for actual and | ||
| necessary expenses incurred in discharging committee duties. The | ||
| expenses are paid from funds appropriated to the Texas Indigent | ||
| Defense Commission. | ||
| (c-6) The Texas Indigent Defense Commission shall provide | ||
| administrative support as necessary to carry out the purposes of | ||
| this article. | ||
| (d)(1) The statewide capital defense training and standards | ||
| committee shall adopt policies and standards for providing legal | ||
| representation [ |
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| [ |
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| penalty is sought. The policies and standards must include, with | ||
| respect to the qualification of attorneys to be appointed in | ||
| capital cases, the following: | ||
| (A) training requirements and curricula; | ||
| (B) qualification standards; | ||
| (C) continuing legal education requirements; and | ||
| (D) other policies and standards as necessary to | ||
| ensure quality legal representation in capital cases. | ||
| (2) The standards must require that a trial attorney | ||
| appointed as lead counsel to a capital case: | ||
| (A) be a member of the State Bar of Texas; | ||
| (B) exhibit proficiency and commitment to | ||
| providing quality representation to defendants in death penalty | ||
| cases; | ||
| (C) have not been found by the local selection | ||
| committee to have provided deficient legal representation [ |
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| representation [ |
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| attorney's inability [ |
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| in the future; | ||
| (D) have at least five years of criminal law | ||
| experience; | ||
| (E) have tried to a verdict as lead defense | ||
| counsel a significant number of felony cases, including homicide | ||
| trials and other trials for offenses punishable as second or first | ||
| degree felonies or capital felonies; | ||
| (F) have trial experience in[ |
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| [ |
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| health or forensic expert witnesses[ |
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| (i) trial experience in [ |
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| investigating and presenting mitigating evidence at the penalty | ||
| phase of a death penalty trial, regardless of whether: | ||
| (a) the case resulted in a judgment or | ||
| dismissal; or | ||
| (b) the state subsequently waived the | ||
| death penalty in the case; or | ||
| (ii) an equivalent amount of trial | ||
| experience, as determined by the local selection committee; and | ||
| (G) have participated in continuing legal | ||
| education courses or other training relating to criminal defense in | ||
| death penalty cases. | ||
| (3) The standards must require that an attorney | ||
| appointed as lead appellate counsel in the direct appeal of a | ||
| capital case: | ||
| (A) be a member of the State Bar of Texas; | ||
| (B) exhibit proficiency and commitment to | ||
| providing quality representation to defendants in death penalty | ||
| cases; | ||
| (C) have not been found by the local selection | ||
| committee to have provided deficient legal representation [ |
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| representation [ |
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| attorney's inability [ |
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| in the future; | ||
| (D) have at least five years of criminal law | ||
| experience; | ||
| (E) have authored a significant number of | ||
| appellate briefs, including appellate briefs for homicide cases and | ||
| other cases involving an offense punishable as a capital felony or a | ||
| felony of the first degree or an offense described by Article | ||
| 42A.054(a); | ||
| (F) have trial or appellate experience in[ |
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| [ |
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| health or forensic expert witnesses[ |
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| (i) trial or appellate experience in [ |
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| the use of mitigating evidence at the penalty phase of a death | ||
| penalty trial, regardless of whether: | ||
| (a) the case resulted in a judgment or | ||
| dismissal; or | ||
| (b) the state subsequently waived the | ||
| death penalty in the case; or | ||
| (ii) an equivalent amount of trial or | ||
| appellate experience, as determined by the local selection | ||
| committee; and | ||
| (G) have participated in continuing legal | ||
| education courses or other training relating to criminal defense in | ||
| appealing death penalty cases. | ||
| (4) The Texas Indigent Defense Commission [ |
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| shall prominently post the policies and standards adopted by the | ||
| statewide capital defense training and standards committee under | ||
| Subdivision (1) on the commission's Internet website [ |
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| (5) Not later than the second anniversary of the date | ||
| an attorney is placed on the list of attorneys qualified for | ||
| appointment in death penalty cases and each year following the | ||
| second anniversary, the attorney must present a list of death | ||
| penalty trial, direct appeal, and habeas corpus cases in which the | ||
| attorney served as counsel and proof to the local selection | ||
| committee that the attorney has successfully completed the | ||
| training, minimum continuing legal education requirements, and | ||
| other standards established by the statewide capital defense | ||
| training and standards committee established under Subsection | ||
| (c-2) [ |
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| selection committee shall remove the attorney's name from the list | ||
| of qualified attorneys if the attorney fails to provide the local | ||
| selection committee with the materials required under this | ||
| subsection [ |
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| (m) The local selection committee shall annually review the | ||
| list of attorneys posted under Subsection (c-1) [ |
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| that each listed attorney satisfies the requirements under this | ||
| chapter. | ||
| SECTION 2. Article 26.052(n), Code of Criminal Procedure, | ||
| is repealed. | ||
| SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only | ||
| to a capital felony case that is filed on or after the effective | ||
| date of this Act. A capital felony case that is filed before the | ||
| effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the | ||
| date the case was filed, and the former law is continued in effect | ||
| for that purpose. | ||
| SECTION 4. This Act takes effect December 1, 2021. | ||
