HBA-KMH H.B. 3070 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3070 By: Hinojosa Criminal Jurisprudence 4/19/1999 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The Court of Criminal Appeals recently adopted a rules of appellate procedure prohibiting jury misconduct and defining what evidence can be adduced from a juror in such an instance. Last March the Court of Criminal Appeals, in adopting another new rule of evidence, eliminated the ability to introduce evidence of juror misconduct in criminal cases. The elimination of the rule allowing evidence of juror misconduct makes it irrelevant if a juror decides a person's guilt on an improper basis. The only exceptions to this new rule is cases where a juror is incompetent or there was an outside influence on the deliberation. H.B. 3070 prohibits a juror from testifying before the jury for which the juror was impaneled and entitles the opposing party to object to the testimony. Furthermore, this bill prohibits a juror from testifying about aspects of jury deliberation except as to matters relevant to the validity of the verdict or indictment on inquiry. 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. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Chapter 36, Code of Criminal Procedure, by adding Article 36.34, as follows: Art. 36.34. JUROR NOT ALLOWED TO TESTIFY. Prohibits a juror in the trial of a case from testifying before the jury on which the juror sits as a member. Entitles an opposing party to object to the testimony outside the presence of the jury if a juror is called to testify in violation this article. SECTION 2. Amends Chapter 40, Code of Criminal Procedure, by adding Article 40.002, as follows: Art. 40.002. Prohibits a juror from testifying as to any matter or statement occurring during jury deliberations, the mental processes used by the juror in deliberating the verdict or the effect of any event or thing on the mind of the juror or another juror that influenced the juror or other juror in deliberating the verdict. Prohibits the admission of an affidavit or evidence of a statement by a juror concerning a matter about which the juror is prohibited from testifying under this article. Authorizes a juror to testify as to any matter relevant to the validity of the verdict or indictment on inquiry into the validity of a verdict or indictment. SECTION 3. Emergency clause. Effective date: upon passage.