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.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

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
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  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 [the qualification of attorneys to be appointed] to
  [represent] indigent defendants in capital cases in which the death
  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 [a
  federal or state court to have rendered ineffective assistance of
  counsel] during the trial or appeal of any capital case if [,
  unless] the local selection committee has determined [determines
  under Subsection (n)] that the conduct underlying the deficient
  representation [finding no longer] accurately reflects the
  attorney's inability [ability] to provide effective representation
  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[:
                           [(i)]  the use of and challenges to mental
  health or forensic expert witnesses[;] and have:
                           (i)  trial experience in [(ii)]
  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 [a
  federal or state court to have rendered ineffective assistance of
  counsel] during the trial or appeal of any capital case if [,
  unless] the local selection committee has determined [determines
  under Subsection (n)] that the conduct underlying the deficient
  representation [finding no longer] accurately reflects the
  attorney's inability [ability] to provide effective representation
  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[:
                           [(i)]  the use of and challenges to mental
  health or forensic expert witnesses[;] and have:
                           (i)  trial or appellate experience in [(ii)]
  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 [committee]
  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 [in each
  district clerk's office in the region with a list of attorneys
  qualified for appointment].
               (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) [of the State Bar of Texas, including a course or other form
  of training relating to criminal defense in death penalty cases or
  in appealing death penalty cases, as applicable]. The local
  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 [proof of completion of the continuing legal education
  requirements].
         (m)  The local selection committee shall annually review the
  list of attorneys posted under Subsection (c-1) [(d)] to ensure
  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.
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