Bill Text: TX HB2961 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Relating to criminal responsibility for the conduct of a coconspirator.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 5-0)

Status: (Passed) 2023-06-12 - Effective on 9/1/23 [HB2961 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-HB2961-Introduced.html

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88R11545 JCG-F
By: Cook H.B. No. 2961

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to jury instructions regarding a conspiracy in certain
criminal cases.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 36, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by adding Article 36.145 to read as follows:
Art. 36.145. REQUIRED JURY INSTRUCTION ON CRIMINAL
CONSPIRACY IN CERTAIN CASES. During the trial of a case in which
the defendant is tried as a conspirator under Section 7.02(b),
Penal Code, the judge shall include in the court's charge under
Article 36.14 the following statement:
"A criminal conspiracy is an agreement between two or more
persons, with intent that a felony be committed, that they, or one
or more of them, engage in conduct that would constitute the
offense, and one or more of them perform an overt act in pursuance
of the agreement. An agreement constituting a conspiracy may be
inferred from acts of the parties."
SECTION 2. Article 36.145, Code of Criminal Procedure, as
added by this Act, applies only to a trial that begins on or after
the effective date of this Act, regardless of whether the alleged
offense was committed before, on, or after that date.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.