Texas Code of Criminal Procedure - Article 24.29. Uniform Act To Secure Rendition Of Prisoners In Criminal Proceedings

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Art. 24.29. UNIFORM ACT TO SECURE RENDITION OF PRISONERS IN 
CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS.  

Short title
	Sec. 1. This article may be cited as the "Uniform Act to 
Secure Rendition of Prisoners in Criminal Proceedings."

Definitions
	Sec. 2. In this Act:                                                           
	(1)  "Penal institution" means a jail, prison, penitentiary, 
house of correction, or other place of penal detention.
	(2)  "State" means a state of the United States, the District 
of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and any territory of 
the United States.
	(3)  "Witness" means a person who is confined in a penal 
institution in a state and whose testimony is desired in another 
state in a criminal proceeding or investigation by a grand jury or 
in any criminal action before a court.

Summoning witness in this state to testify in another state
	Sec. 3. (a) A judge of a state court of record in another 
state, which by its laws has made provision for commanding persons 
confined in penal institutions within that state to attend and 
testify in this state, may certify that:
	(1)  there is a criminal proceeding or investigation by a 
grand jury or a criminal action pending in the court;
	(2)  a person who is confined in a penal institution in this 
state may be a material witness in the proceeding, investigation, 
or action;  and
	(3)  his presence will be required during a specified time.                    
	(b)  On presentation of the certificate to any judge having 
jurisdiction over the person confined and on notice to the attorney 
general, the judge in this state shall fix a time and place for a 
hearing and shall make an order directed to the person having 
custody of the prisoner requiring that the prisoner be produced 
before him at the hearing.

Court order
	Sec. 4. (a) A judge may issue a transfer order if at the 
hearing the judge determines that:
	(1)  the witness may be material and necessary;                                
	(2)  his attending and testifying are not adverse to the 
interest of this state or to the health or legal rights of the 
witness;
	(3)  the laws of the state in which he is requested to testify 
will give him protection from arrest and the service of civil and 
criminal process because of any act committed prior to his arrival 
in the state under the order;  and
	(4)  as a practical matter the possibility is negligible that 
the witness may be subject to arrest or to the service of civil or 
criminal process in any state through which he will be required to 
pass.
	(b)  If a judge issues an order under Subsection (a) of this 
section, the judge shall attach to the order a copy of a certificate 
presented under Section 3 of this Act.  The order shall:
	(1)  direct the witness to attend and testify;                                 
	(2)  except as provided by Subsection (c) of this section, 
direct the person having custody of the witness to produce him in 
the court where the criminal action is pending or where the grand 
jury investigation is pending at a time and place specified in the 
order;  and
	(3)  prescribe such conditions as the judge shall determine.                   
	(c)  The judge, in lieu of directing the person having 
custody of the witness to produce him in the requesting 
jurisdiction's court, may direct and require in his order that:
	(1)  an officer of the requesting jurisdiction come to the 
Texas penal institution in which the witness is confined to accept 
custody of the witness for physical transfer to the requesting 
jurisdiction;
	(2)  the requesting jurisdiction provide proper safeguards 
on his custody while in transit;
	(3)  the requesting jurisdiction be liable for and pay all 
expenses incurred in producing and returning the witness, including 
but not limited to food, lodging, clothing, and medical care;  and
	(4)  the requesting jurisdiction promptly deliver the 
witness back to the same or another Texas penal institution as 
specified by the Texas Department of Corrections at the conclusion 
of his testimony.

Terms and conditions
	Sec. 5. An order to a witness and to a person having custody 
of the witness shall provide for the return of the witness at the 
conclusion of his testimony, proper safeguards on his custody, and 
proper financial reimbursement or prepayment by the requesting 
jurisdiction for all expenses incurred in the production and return 
of the witness.  The order may prescribe any other condition the 
judge thinks proper or necessary.  The judge shall not require 
prepayment of expenses if the judge directs and requires the 
requesting jurisdiction to accept custody of the witness at the 
Texas penal institution in which the witness is confined and to 
deliver the witness back to the same or another Texas penal 
institution at the conclusion of his testimony.  An order does not 
become effective until the judge of the state requesting the 
witness enters an order directing compliance with the conditions 
prescribed.

Exceptions
	Sec. 6. This Act does not apply to a person in this state who 
is confined as mentally ill or who is under sentence of death.

Prisoner from another state summoned to testify in this state
	Sec. 7. (a) If a person confined in a penal institution in any 
other state may be a material witness in a criminal action pending 
in a court of record or in a grand jury investigation in this state, 
a judge of the court may certify that:
	(1)  there is a criminal proceeding or investigation by a 
grand jury or a criminal action pending in the court;
	(2)  a person who is confined in a penal institution in the 
other state may be a material witness in the proceeding, 
investigation, or action;  and
	(3)  his presence will be required during a specified time.                    
	(b)  The judge of the court in this state shall:                               
	(1)  present the certificate to a judge of a court of record 
in the other state having jurisdiction over the prisoner confined;  
and
	(2)  give notice that the prisoner's presence will be 
required to the attorney general of the state in which the prisoner 
is confined.

Compliance
	Sec. 8. A judge of the court in this state may enter an order 
directing compliance with the terms and conditions of an order 
specified in a certificate under Section 3 of this Act and entered 
by the judge of the state in which the witness is confined.

Exemption from arrest and service of process
	Sec. 9. If a witness from another state comes into or passes 
through this state under an order directing him to attend and 
testify in this or another state, while in this state pursuant to 
the order he is not subject to arrest or the service of civil or 
criminal process because of any act committed prior to his arrival 
in this state under the order.

Uniformity of interpretation
	Sec. 10. This Act shall be so construed as to effect its 
general purpose to make uniform the laws of those states which enact 
it.

Acts 1983, 68th Leg., p. 1068, ch. 240, Sec. 1, eff. Aug. 29, 1983.           

Last modified: August 10, 2007