Bill Text: TX HB1401 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to procedures regarding defendants who may lack the capacity to understand or participate in criminal proceedings or who have participated in certain competency restoration programs.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-03-03 - Referred to Criminal Jurisprudence [HB1401 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-HB1401-Introduced.html
| 88R3665 EAS-F | ||
| By: Moody | H.B. No. 1401 | |
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| relating to procedures regarding defendants who may lack the | ||
| capacity to understand or participate in criminal proceedings or | ||
| who have participated in certain competency restoration programs. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 45, Code of Criminal | ||
| Procedure, is amended by adding Article 45.0214 to read as follows: | ||
| Art. 45.0214. DEFENDANT WITH MENTAL ILLNESS, INTELLECTUAL | ||
| OR DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITY, OR LACK OF CAPACITY. (a) In this | ||
| article: | ||
| (1) "Caregiver" means a person, including a guardian, | ||
| who is authorized by law, contract, or familial relationship to | ||
| provide care to another person. | ||
| (2) "Defendant" includes a child as defined by Article | ||
| 45.058(h). | ||
| (b) On motion by the state, the defendant, or a person who | ||
| stands in a parental relation to the defendant or who acts as the | ||
| defendant's caregiver, or on the court's own motion, a justice or | ||
| judge shall determine whether probable cause exists to believe that | ||
| a defendant, including a defendant with a mental illness or an | ||
| intellectual or developmental disability: | ||
| (1) lacks the capacity to understand the proceedings | ||
| in criminal court or to assist in the defendant's own defense; or | ||
| (2) is unfit to proceed. | ||
| (c) If the court determines that probable cause exists for a | ||
| finding under Subsection (b), after providing notice to the state, | ||
| the court may dismiss the complaint. | ||
| (d) A dismissal of a complaint under Subsection (c) may be | ||
| appealed as provided by Article 44.01. | ||
| SECTION 2. Article 46B.009, Code of Criminal Procedure, is | ||
| amended to read as follows: | ||
| Art. 46B.009. TIME CREDITS. (a) A court sentencing a | ||
| person convicted of a criminal offense shall credit to the term of | ||
| the person's sentence each of the following periods for which the | ||
| person may be confined in a mental health facility, residential | ||
| care facility, or jail: | ||
| (1) any period of confinement that occurs pending a | ||
| determination under Subchapter C as to the defendant's competency | ||
| to stand trial; and | ||
| (2) any period of confinement that occurs between the | ||
| date of any initial determination of the defendant's incompetency | ||
| under that subchapter and the date the person is transported to jail | ||
| following a final judicial determination that the person has been | ||
| restored to competency. | ||
| (b) A court sentencing a person convicted of a criminal | ||
| offense shall credit to the term of the person's sentence any period | ||
| during which the person participated in an outpatient competency | ||
| restoration program. | ||
| SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023. | ||
