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 |
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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. |