87(R) SB 1004 - Introduced version - Bill Text

	87R971 KJE-F
	By:  Hinojosa, Johnson	S.B.  No.  1004

	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to the procedure for an application for a writ of habeas
	corpus based on certain new evidence.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION  1.    Chapter 11, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
	amended by adding Article 11.0732 to read as follows:
	Art.  11.0732.    PROCEDURE RELATED TO CERTAIN NEW EVIDENCE.
	(a) This article applies to evidence, other than evidence
	described by Article 11.073(a), that:
	(1)    was not available to be offered by a convicted
	person at the person's trial; and
	(2)    is material to the person's conviction.
	(b)    A court may grant a convicted person relief on an
	application for a writ of habeas corpus if:
	(1)    the convicted person files an application, in the
	manner provided by Article 11.07, 11.071, or 11.072, containing
	specific facts indicating that:
	(A)    evidence described by Subsection (a) is
	currently available and was not available at the time of the
	person's trial because the evidence was not ascertainable through
	the exercise of reasonable diligence by the person before the date
	of or during the person's trial; and
	(B)    the evidence would be admissible under the
	Texas Rules of Evidence at a trial held on the date of the
	application; and
	(2)    the court makes the findings described by
	Subdivisions (1)(A) and (B) and also finds that, had the evidence
	been presented at trial, on the preponderance of the evidence the
	person would not have been convicted.
	(c)    For purposes of Section 4(a)(1), Article 11.07, Section
	5(a)(1), Article 11.071, and Section 9(a), Article 11.072, a claim
	or issue could not have been presented previously in an original
	application or in a previously considered application if the claim
	or issue is based on evidence described by Subsection (a) that was
	not ascertainable through the exercise of reasonable diligence by
	the convicted person on or before the date on which the original
	application or a previously considered application, as applicable,
	was filed.
	SECTION  2.    The change in law made by this Act applies only
	to an application for a writ of habeas corpus filed on or after the
	effective date of this Act. An application filed before the
	effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect when the
	application was filed, and the former law is continued in effect for
	that purpose.
	SECTION  3.    This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.