Bill Text: TX HB541 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to the electronic recording of certain custodial interrogations.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-04-09 - Left pending in committee [HB541 Detail]

Download: Texas-2015-HB541-Introduced.html

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84R3268 MEW-D
By: Canales H.B. No. 541

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
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 of a custodial interrogation 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 of the 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 an offense under:
(1) Section 19.02, Penal Code (murder);
(2) Section 19.03, Penal Code (capital murder);
(3) Section 20.03, Penal Code (kidnapping);
(4) Section 20.04, Penal Code (aggravated
kidnapping);
(5) Section 20A.02, Penal Code (trafficking of
persons);
(6) Section 20A.03, Penal Code (continuous
trafficking of persons);
(7) Section 21.02, Penal Code (continuous sexual abuse
of young child or children);
(8) Section 21.11, Penal Code (indecency with a
child);
(9) Section 21.12, Penal Code (improper relationship
between educator and student);
(10) Section 22.011, Penal Code (sexual assault);
(11) Section 22.021, Penal Code (aggravated sexual
assault); or
(12) Section 43.25, Penal Code (sexual performance by
a child).
(c) For purposes of Subsection (b), an electronic recording
of a custodial interrogation is complete only if the recording
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.
(d) A recording of a custodial interrogation that complies
with this article is exempt from public disclosure except as
provided by Section 552.108, Government Code.
(e) 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
the law enforcement agency has good cause. For purposes of this
subsection, "good cause" includes:
(1) the accused refused to respond to questioning or
cooperate in a custodial interrogation of which an electronic
recording was made, provided that:
(A) a contemporaneous recording of the refusal
was made; or
(B) the peace officer or agent of the law
enforcement agency conducting the interrogation attempted, in good
faith, to record the accused's refusal but the accused was
unwilling to have the refusal recorded, and the peace officer or
agent contemporaneously, in writing, documented the refusal;
(2) the statement was not made exclusively as the
result of a custodial interrogation, including a statement that was
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 interrogation attempted, in good faith, to
record the interrogation but the recording equipment did not
function, the officer or agent inadvertently operated the equipment
incorrectly, or the equipment malfunctioned or stopped operating
without the knowledge of the officer or agent;
(4) exigent public safety concerns prevented or
rendered infeasible the making of an electronic recording of the
custodial interrogation; or
(5) the peace officer or agent of the law enforcement
agency conducting the interrogation reasonably believed at the time
the interrogation commenced that the accused interrogated was not
taken into custody for or being interrogated concerning the
commission of an offense listed in Subsection (b).
Art. 2.33. LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES QUALIFIED TO CONDUCT
CERTAIN CUSTODIAL INTERROGATIONS. Only a law enforcement agency
that employs peace officers described by Subdivision (1), (2), (3),
(4), (5), (6), (7), (8), or (30), Article 2.12, is qualified to
conduct a custodial interrogation of an individual suspected of
committing an offense listed in Article 2.32(b).
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.