| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to the appeal of waiver of jurisdiction and transfer to |
|
|
criminal court in juvenile cases. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Article 4.18(g), Code of Criminal Procedure, is |
|
|
amended to read as follows: |
|
|
(g) This article does not apply to a claim of a defect or |
|
|
error in a discretionary transfer proceeding in juvenile court. A |
|
|
defendant may appeal a defect or error only as provided by Chapter |
|
|
56, Family Code [Article 44.47]. |
|
|
SECTION 2. Section 51.041(a), Family Code, is amended to |
|
|
read as follows: |
|
|
(a) The court retains jurisdiction over a person, without |
|
|
regard to the age of the person, for conduct engaged in by the |
|
|
person before becoming 17 years of age if, as a result of an appeal |
|
|
by the person or the state under Chapter 56 [or by the person under
|
|
|
Article 44.47, Code of Criminal Procedure,] of an order of the |
|
|
court, the order is reversed or modified and the case remanded to |
|
|
the court by the appellate court. |
|
|
SECTION 3. Sections 56.01(c) and (h), Family Code, are |
|
|
amended to read as follows: |
|
|
(c) An appeal may be taken: |
|
|
(1) except as provided by Subsection (n), by or on |
|
|
behalf of a child from an order entered under: |
|
|
(A) Section 54.02 respecting transfer of the |
|
|
child for prosecution as an adult; |
|
|
(B) Section 54.03 with regard to delinquent |
|
|
conduct or conduct indicating a need for supervision; |
|
|
(C) [(B)] Section 54.04 disposing of the case; |
|
|
(D) [(C)] Section 54.05 respecting modification |
|
|
of a previous juvenile court disposition; or |
|
|
(E) [(D)] Chapter 55 by a juvenile court |
|
|
committing a child to a facility for the mentally ill or |
|
|
intellectually disabled [mentally retarded]; or |
|
|
(2) by a person from an order entered under Section |
|
|
54.11(i)(2) transferring the person to the custody of the Texas |
|
|
Department of Criminal Justice. |
|
|
(h) If the order appealed from takes custody of the child |
|
|
from the child's [his] parent, guardian, or custodian or waives |
|
|
jurisdiction under Section 54.02 and transfers the child to |
|
|
criminal court for prosecution, the appeal has precedence over all |
|
|
other cases. The supreme court shall adopt rules ensuring the |
|
|
acceleration of the disposition by the appellate court and the |
|
|
supreme court of an appeal of an order waiving jurisdiction under |
|
|
Section 54.02 and transferring a child to criminal court for |
|
|
prosecution. |
|
|
SECTION 4. Article 44.47, Code of Criminal Procedure, is |
|
|
repealed. |
|
|
SECTION 5. The change in law made by this Act applies only |
|
|
to an order of a juvenile court waiving jurisdiction and |
|
|
transferring a child to criminal court that is issued on or after |
|
|
the effective date of this Act. An order of a juvenile court waiving |
|
|
jurisdiction and transferring a child to criminal court that is |
|
|
issued before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law |
|
|
in effect on the date the order was issued, and the former law is |
|
|
continued in effect for that purpose. |
|
|
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015. |