| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to requiring the corroboration of certain testimony to |
|
|
support a criminal conviction. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Chapter 38, Code of Criminal Procedure, is |
|
|
amended by adding Article 38.075 to read as follows: |
|
|
Art. 38.075. TESTIMONY OF IN-CUSTODY INFORMANT. (a) A |
|
|
defendant may not be convicted of an offense on the testimony of an |
|
|
in-custody informant unless the testimony is corroborated by other |
|
|
evidence tending to connect the defendant with the offense |
|
|
committed. |
|
|
(b) Corroboration is not sufficient for the purposes of this |
|
|
article if the corroboration only shows that the offense was |
|
|
committed. |
|
|
(c) In this article, "in-custody informant" includes a |
|
|
person confined in a correctional facility, as defined by Section |
|
|
1.07, Penal Code, after being arrested for, charged with, or |
|
|
convicted of an offense. |
|
|
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies to any |
|
|
case in which a judgment has not been entered before the effective |
|
|
date of this Act. A case in which a judgment has been entered before |
|
|
the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect when |
|
|
the judgment was entered, and the former law is continued in effect |
|
|
for that purpose. |
|
|
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009. |