There will continue to be no legal punishments on the books in Texas for 17-year old capital murderers after the Texas House of Representatives failed to get to SB 187 by Huffman on last night's floor calendar prior to the midnight deadline. Oops. Guess they'll have to charge them with "regular" murder, then, which still can get the 17-year old 99-life. Prosecutors say they will ask Governor Perry for a special session on the subject, but Grits wouldn't expect it unless one is called anyway on the budget, water, or some other reason. IANAL, but my personal view was that SB 187 did not provide enough discretion on sentencing to comply with the Supreme Court's decision in Miller v. Alabama to which the legislation was reacting. (UPDATE 5/25: More from the Austin Statesman.)
Let's run through the fates of a few other Texas bills for which Grits has been following the end game:
The open-file bill for prosecutors, SB 1611 by Duncan/Ellis, dubbed by its authors and the media as the Michael Morton Act, has already been signed. Otherwise, there are a few good bills Grits mentioned previously which are now headed to the Governor or are about to do so:
Both chambers have approved SB 825 by Whitmire which disallows the state bar from issuing private sanctions when prosecutors are found to have committed Brady violations.
Legislation clarifying the standard by which courts judge habeas corpus writs in junk science cases, SB 344 by Whitmire, is on its way to the Governor's desk, the only recommendation from the Timothy Cole Advisory Panel on Wrongful Convictions to make it there this year. State Rep. Sylvester Turner did a masterful job of shepherding it through the House.
SB 1003 by Carona creating a study commission related to solitary confinement received a second-reading vote before last night's headline. One more vote today and the Governor can consider it. And SB 1114 by Whitmire limiting the use of Class C tickets for school behavior violations made it all the way through the process.
Another bill headed to the Governor, SB 1238 by Hinojosa, would clarify the jurisdiction of the Texas Forensic Science Commission in the wake of a too-limiting Attorney General's opinion from 2011 solicited by former FSC Chairman John Bradley.
The only bill left with even minor potential to reduce incarceration rates by creating incentives for probationers' good behavior, HB 1790 by Longoria, was placed on the Senate intent calendar today and still has a shot. (UDATE: This passed.)
Bad wiretapping bill: Dead. Grand jury secrecy bill: Dead. Good drug policy bills: Dead. Sentencing review commission: Dead. Innocence commission bill: Dead. Bills of innocence commission opponent: Dead.
The action today shifts to the Senate side where there's a good grand-jury transparency bill on the intent calendar that still has a chance: HB 3334 by Hughes would require witness testimony to be recorded in grand jury proceedings as well as that of the defendant. (UPDATE: Failed w/o a senate floor vote.) After the Senate approved its version of HB 912 by Gooden, aka, "the drone bill," the House appointed conferees (Gooden, Burnam, Johnson, Moody, and Stickland) and is waiting on the Senate to do the same. (UPDATE: Senate conferees are Estes, Duncan, Ellis, Hegar, West.)
What else have readers been watching pass or die in these waning days? Update us in the comments.
RELATED: No shortage of good criminal justice bills but lower chamber never voted on them.
ALSO RELATED: Maurice Chammah at the Texas Tribune - who's about to leave the Trib to freelance and play fiddle professionally (suerte amigo) - has an article detailing which portions of the Texas Association of Business' new-found criminal justice agenda passed and failed.
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