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Texas Code of Criminal Procedure - Article 49.07. Notification Of Investigating Official

Legal Research Home > Texas Lawyer > Code of Criminal Procedure > Texas Code of Criminal Procedure - Article 49.07. Notification Of Investigating Official

Art. 49.07. [972] [1062] [1025] NOTIFICATION OF 
INVESTIGATING OFFICIAL.  (a) A physician or other person who has 
possession of a body or body part of a person whose death requires 
an inquest under Article 49.04 of this code shall immediately 
notify the justice of the peace who serves the precinct in which the 
body or body part was found.
	(b)  A peace officer who has been notified of the death of a 
person whose death requires an inquest under Article 49.04 of this 
code shall immediately notify the justice of the peace who serves 
the precinct in which the body or body part was found.
	(c)(1) If the justice of the peace who serves the precinct in 
which the body or body part was found is not available to conduct an 
inquest, a person required to give notice under this article shall 
notify the nearest available justice of the peace serving the 
county in which the body or body part was found, and that justice of 
the peace shall conduct the inquest.
	(2)  If no justice of the peace serving the county in which 
the body or body part was found is available to conduct an inquest, 
a person required to give notice under this article shall notify the 
county judge, and the county judge shall initiate the inquest.  The 
county judge may exercise any power and perform any duty otherwise 
granted to or imposed under this subchapter on the justice of the 
peace serving the county in which the body or body part was found, 
except that not later than the fifth day after the day on which the 
inquest is initiated, the county judge shall transfer all 
information obtained by the judge to the justice of the peace in 
whose precinct the body or body part was found for final disposition 
of the matter.
	(d)  A person commits an offense if the person is required by 
this article to give notice and intentionally or knowingly fails to 
give the notice.  An offense under this subsection is a Class C 
misdemeanor .

Amended by Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 529, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 
1987;  Subsec. (d) amended by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 656, Sec. 2, 
eff. Sept. 1, 1997;  Subsec. (c) amended by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., 
ch. 229, Sec. 1, eff. May 22, 2001;  Subsecs. (a) to (c) amended by 
Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 826, Sec. 2, eff. Sept. 1, 2003;  Acts 
2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1295, Sec. 2, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.

Last modified: August 11, 2007