Relating to the punishment for politically motivated murders and providing for the prosecution of those murders as capital murder; increasing a criminal penalty.

The text as introduced · 601 words

90R2922 AJZ-D

By: Patterson
H.B. No. 477

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the punishment for politically motivated murders and

providing for the prosecution of those murders as capital murder;

increasing a criminal penalty.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 19.03, Penal Code, is amended by

amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (e) and (f) to read

as follows:

(a) A person commits an offense if the person commits murder

as defined under Section 19.02(b)(1) and:

(1) the person murders a peace officer or fireman who

is acting in the lawful discharge of an official duty and who the

person knows is a peace officer or fireman;

(2) the person intentionally commits the murder in the

course of committing or attempting to commit kidnapping, burglary,

robbery, aggravated sexual assault, arson, obstruction or

retaliation, or terroristic threat under Section 22.07(a)(1), (3),

(4), (5), or (6);

(3) the person commits the murder for remuneration or

the promise of remuneration or employs another to commit the murder

for remuneration or the promise of remuneration;

(4) the person commits the murder while escaping or

attempting to escape from a penal institution;

(5) the person, while incarcerated in a penal

institution, murders another:

(A) who is employed in the operation of the penal

institution; or

(B) with the intent to establish, maintain, or

participate in a combination or in the profits of a combination;

(6) the person:

(A) while incarcerated for an offense under this

section or Section 19.02, murders another; or

(B) while serving a sentence of life imprisonment

or a term of 99 years for an offense under Section 20.04, 22.021, or

29.03, murders another;

(7) the person murders more than one person:

(A) during the same criminal transaction; or

(B) during different criminal transactions but

the murders are committed pursuant to the same scheme or course of

conduct;

(8) the person murders an individual under 10 years of

age;

(9) the person murders an individual 10 years of age or

older but younger than 15 years of age; [ or ]

(10) the person murders another person in retaliation

for or on account of the service or status of the other person as a

judge or justice of the supreme court, the court of criminal

appeals, a court of appeals, a district court, a criminal district

court, a constitutional county court, a statutory county court, a

justice court, or a municipal court ; or

(11) the person murders an individual and the actor's

conduct is motivated by the political affiliation, association,

belief, or ideology of the actor or the victim .

(e) It is not a defense to prosecution under Subsection

(a)(11) that a mistake of fact gave rise to the motivation described

under that subsection.

(f) For purposes of Subsection (a)(11), the actor's

motivation may be established through statements, actions, or other

objective factors indicating that the actor selected the victim

based on the political affiliation, association, belief, or

ideology of the actor or the victim.

SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only

to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.

An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is

governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed,

and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For

purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the

effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred

before that date.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2027.