Bill Text: TX HB414 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to the electronic recording of certain custodial interrogations.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-02-20 - Referred to Criminal Jurisprudence [HB414 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-HB414-Introduced.html
| 85R3078 MEW-F | ||
| By: Collier | H.B. No. 414 | |
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| relating to the electronic recording of certain custodial | ||
| interrogations. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Chapter 2, Code of Criminal Procedure, is | ||
| amended by adding Articles 2.32 and 2.33 to read as follows: | ||
| Art. 2.32. ELECTRONIC RECORDING OF CUSTODIAL | ||
| INTERROGATIONS. (a) In this article: | ||
| (1) "Custodial interrogation" means any investigative | ||
| questioning, other than routine questions associated with booking, | ||
| by a peace officer during which: | ||
| (A) a reasonable person in the position of the | ||
| person being interrogated would consider himself or herself to be | ||
| in custody; and | ||
| (B) a question is asked that is reasonably likely | ||
| to elicit an incriminating response. | ||
| (2) "Electronic recording" means an audio or | ||
| audiovisual electronic recording that begins at or before the time | ||
| the person being interrogated receives a warning described by | ||
| Section 2(a), Article 38.22, and continues until the time the | ||
| interrogation ceases. | ||
| (3) "Place of detention" means a police station or | ||
| other building that is a place of operation for a law enforcement | ||
| agency, including a municipal police department or county sheriff's | ||
| department, and is owned or operated by the law enforcement agency | ||
| for the purpose of detaining individuals in connection with the | ||
| suspected violation of a penal law. The term does not include a | ||
| courthouse. | ||
| (b) A law enforcement agency qualified under Article 2.33 to | ||
| conduct a custodial interrogation regarding an offense shall make | ||
| an electronic recording of any custodial interrogation that occurs | ||
| in a place of detention and is of a person suspected of committing | ||
| or charged with the commission of a felony offense. | ||
| (c) An electronic recording of a custodial interrogation | ||
| that complies with this article is exempt from public disclosure | ||
| except as provided by Section 552.108, Government Code. | ||
| (d) A law enforcement agency otherwise required to make an | ||
| electronic recording of a custodial interrogation under this | ||
| article is excused from the duty to make the electronic recording | ||
| if: | ||
| (1) the accused refuses to respond to questioning or | ||
| cooperate in a custodial interrogation of which an electronic | ||
| recording is made, provided that: | ||
| (A) a contemporaneous recording of the refusal is | ||
| made; or | ||
| (B) the peace officer or agent of the law | ||
| enforcement agency conducting the interrogation attempts, in good | ||
| faith, to record the accused's refusal but the accused is unwilling | ||
| to have the refusal recorded, and the peace officer or agent | ||
| contemporaneously, in writing, documents the refusal; | ||
| (2) the statement is not made as a result of a | ||
| custodial interrogation, including a statement that is made | ||
| spontaneously by the accused and not in response to a question by a | ||
| peace officer; | ||
| (3) the peace officer or agent of the law enforcement | ||
| agency conducting the custodial interrogation attempts, in good | ||
| faith, to record the interrogation, but the recording equipment | ||
| does not function and the officer or agent contemporaneously, in | ||
| writing, documents the reason why it is not possible to delay the | ||
| interrogation; or | ||
| (4) the peace officer or agent of the law enforcement | ||
| agency conducting the custodial interrogation reasonably believes | ||
| at the time the interrogation commences that the accused to be | ||
| interrogated was not taken into custody for or being interrogated | ||
| concerning the commission of a felony offense. | ||
| Art. 2.33. LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES QUALIFIED TO CONDUCT | ||
| CERTAIN CUSTODIAL INTERROGATIONS. Only a law enforcement agency | ||
| that employs peace officers described by Article 2.12(1), (2), (3), | ||
| (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), or (29) is qualified to conduct a custodial | ||
| interrogation of an individual suspected of committing a felony | ||
| offense. | ||
| SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017. | ||
