By: West, et al. S.B. No. 1253
 
  (Smithee)
 
   
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the electronic recording and admissibility of certain
  custodial interrogations.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Chapter 2, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
  amended by adding Article 2.32 to read as follows:
         Art. 2.32.  ELECTRONIC RECORDING OF CUSTODIAL
  INTERROGATIONS. (a)  In this article:
               (1)  "Electronic recording" means an audiovisual
  electronic recording, or an audio recording if an audiovisual
  electronic recording is unavailable, that is authentic, accurate,
  and unaltered.
               (2)  "Law enforcement agency" means an agency of the
  state, or of a county, municipality, or other political subdivision
  of this state, that employs peace officers who, in the routine
  performance of the officers' duties, conduct custodial
  interrogations of persons suspected of committing criminal
  offenses.
               (3)  "Place of detention" means a police station or
  other building that is a place of operation for a law enforcement
  agency, including a municipal police department or county sheriff's
  department, and is owned or operated by the law enforcement agency
  for the purpose of detaining persons in connection with the
  suspected violation of a penal law. The term does not include a
  courthouse.
         (b)  Unless good cause exists that makes electronic
  recording infeasible, a law enforcement agency shall make a
  complete and contemporaneous electronic recording of any custodial
  interrogation that occurs in a place of detention and is of a person
  suspected of committing or charged with the commission of an
  offense under:
               (1)  Section 19.02, Penal Code (murder);
               (2)  Section 19.03, Penal Code (capital murder);
               (3)  Section 20.03, Penal Code (kidnapping);
               (4)  Section 20.04, Penal Code (aggravated
  kidnapping);
               (5)  Section 20A.02, Penal Code (trafficking of
  persons);
               (6)  Section 20A.03, Penal Code (continuous
  trafficking of persons);
               (7)  Section 21.02, Penal Code (continuous sexual abuse
  of young child or children);
               (8)  Section 21.11, Penal Code (indecency with a
  child);
               (9)  Section 21.12, Penal Code (improper relationship
  between educator and student);
               (10)  Section 22.011, Penal Code (sexual assault);
               (11)  Section 22.021, Penal Code (aggravated sexual
  assault); or
               (12)  Section 43.25, Penal Code (sexual performance by
  a child).
         (c)  For purposes of Subsection (b), an electronic recording
  of a custodial interrogation is complete only if the recording:
               (1)  begins at or before the time the person being
  interrogated enters the area of the place of detention in which the
  custodial interrogation will take place or receives a warning
  described by Section 2(a), Article 38.22, whichever is earlier; and
               (2)  continues until the time the interrogation ceases.
         (d)  For purposes of Subsection (b), good cause that makes
  electronic recording infeasible includes the following:
               (1)  the person being interrogated refused to respond
  or cooperate in a custodial interrogation at which an electronic
  recording was being made, provided that:
                     (A)  a contemporaneous recording of the refusal
  was made; or
                     (B)  the peace officer or agent of the law
  enforcement agency conducting the interrogation attempted, in good
  faith, to record the person's refusal but the person was unwilling
  to have the refusal recorded, and the peace officer or agent
  contemporaneously, in writing, documented the refusal;
               (2)  the statement was not made as the result of a
  custodial interrogation, including a statement that was made
  spontaneously by the accused and not in response to a question by a
  peace officer;
               (3)  the peace officer or agent of the law enforcement
  agency conducting the interrogation attempted, in good faith, to
  record the interrogation but the recording equipment did not
  function, the officer or agent inadvertently operated the equipment
  incorrectly, or the equipment malfunctioned or stopped operating
  without the knowledge of the officer or agent;
               (4)  exigent public safety concerns prevented or
  rendered infeasible the making of an electronic recording of the
  statement; or
               (5)  the peace officer or agent of the law enforcement
  agency conducting the interrogation reasonably believed at the time
  the interrogation commenced that the person being interrogated was
  not taken into custody for or being interrogated concerning the
  commission of an offense listed in Subsection (b).
         (e)  A recording of a custodial interrogation that complies
  with this article is exempt from public disclosure as provided by
  Section 552.108, Government Code.
         SECTION 2.  Article 38.22, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
  amended by adding Section 9 to read as follows:
         Sec. 9.  Notwithstanding any other provision of this
  article, no oral, sign language, or written statement that is made
  by a person accused of an offense listed in Article 2.32(b) and made
  as a result of a custodial interrogation occurring in a place of
  detention, as that term is defined by Article 2.32, is admissible
  against the accused in a criminal proceeding unless:
               (1)  an electronic recording was made of the statement,
  as required by Article 2.32(b); or
               (2)  the attorney representing the state offers proof
  satisfactory to the court that good cause, as described by Article
  2.32(d), existed that made electronic recording of the custodial
  interrogation infeasible. 
         SECTION 3.  Section 9, Article 38.22, Code of Criminal
  Procedure, as added by this Act, applies to the use of a statement
  resulting from a custodial interrogation that occurs on or after
  March 1, 2018, regardless of whether the criminal offense giving
  rise to that interrogation is committed before, on, or after that
  date.
         SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.