HBA-AMW H.B. 553 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 553
By: Mowery
Criminal Jurisprudence
7/19/2001
Enrolled



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

In 1995, a man and his wife joined a traveling carnival while an
investigation in Texas was pending into allegations that the man had
sexually abused his two daughters.  As the carnival prepared to reenter the
United States from Canada, a special agent of the United States Customs
Service ran a routine check on the suspect and found a Texas arrest warrant
for the suspect.  When the suspect crossed the border into Montana, the
agent detained the suspect and read him his Miranda rights.  Three weeks
later, the agent compiled a report in which he recorded his recollections
of the suspect's statements.  No other record of the suspect's statement
exists.  Prior to the 77th Legislature, state law provided that one of the
requirements for admissibility of a statement of an accused made as a
result of custodial interrogation (statement) was that the statement was
electronically recorded.  State law also required strict compliance with
all requirements for the admissibility of a statement.  Although the
statement was admissible under Montana law and the Texas trial court ruled
the statement admissible, the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas ruled that
the statement was inadmissable because it did not comply with Texas law and
remanded the case. House Bill 553 provides that a statement is admissible
in a criminal proceeding in Texas if the statement was obtained in another
state and was obtained in compliance with the laws of that state or this
state or the statement was obtained by a federal law enforcement officer in
Texas or another state and was obtained in compliance with the laws of the
United States. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 553 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to provide that a
written, oral, or sign language statement of an accused made as a result of
a custodial interrogation is admissible against the accused in a criminal
proceeding in Texas if the statement was obtained in another state and was
obtained in compliance with the laws of that state or this state or the
statement was obtained by a federal law enforcement officer in Texas or
another state and was obtained in compliance with the laws of the United
States. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.