Art. 24.29. UNIFORM ACT TO SECURE RENDITION OF PRISONERS IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS
Sec. 1. SHORT TITLE. This article may be cited as the "Uniform Act to Secure Rendition of Prisoners in Criminal Proceedings."
Sec. 2. DEFINITIONS. 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.
Sec. 3. SUMMONING WITNESS IN THIS STATE TO TESTIFY IN ANOTHER STATE. (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.
Sec. 4. COURT ORDER. (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 Criminal Justice at the conclusion of his testimony.
Sec. 5. TERMS AND CONDITIONS. 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.
Sec. 6. EXCEPTIONS. This Act does not apply to a person in this state who is confined as mentally ill or who is under sentence of death.
Sec. 7. PRISONER FROM ANOTHER STATE SUMMONED TO TESTIFY IN THIS STATE. (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.
Sec. 8. COMPLIANCE. 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.
Sec. 9. EXEMPTION FROM ARREST AND SERVICE OF PROCESS. 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.
Sec. 10. UNIFORMITY OF INTERPRETATION. 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.
Amended by:
Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 87 (S.B. 1969), Sec. 25.014, eff. September 1, 2009.
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