(a) The written application in behalf of an offender
seeking a Board recommendation to the Governor or a reprieve from
execution must be delivered to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles,
Clemency Section, 8610 Shoal Creek Boulevard, Austin, Texas 78757,
not later than the twenty-first calendar day before the execution
is scheduled. If the twenty-first calendar day before the execution
is scheduled falls on a weekend or state observed holiday, the application
shall be delivered not later than the next business day.
(b) All supplemental information, including but not
limited to amendments, addenda, supplements, or exhibits, must be
submitted in writing and delivered to the Texas Board of Pardons and
Paroles, Clemency Section, 8610 Shoal Creek Boulevard, Austin, Texas
78757, not later than the fifteenth calendar day before the execution
is scheduled. If the fifteenth calendar day before the execution is
scheduled falls on a weekend or state observed holiday, all additional
information including but not limited to amendments, addenda, supplements,
or exhibits shall be delivered not later than the next business day.
(c) The application and any information filed with
the application, including but not limited to amendments, addenda,
supplements, or exhibits, must be provided by the applicant in an
amount determined by the Presiding Officer.
(d) An offender seeking a Board recommendation to the
Governor of a reprieve from execution may request an interview with
a member of the Board. Such request shall be included in the written
application or any supplement filed therewith in accordance with this
section.
(e) Upon receipt of a request for an interview, the
Presiding Officer (Chair) shall designate at least one member of the
Board to conduct the requested interview. Such interview shall occur
at the confining unit of TDCJ-CID. Attendance at such interviews shall
be limited to the offender, the designated Board Member(s), Board
staff, and TDCJ-CID staff. The Board may consider statements made
by the offender at such interviews and any other materials the offender
delivers to the Board Member during the interview when considering
the offender's application for reprieve.
(f) The Board shall consider and decide applications
for reprieve from execution. Upon review, a majority of the Board,
or a majority thereof, in written and signed form, may:
(1) recommend to the Governor a reprieve from execution;
(2) not recommend a reprieve from execution; or
(3) set the matter for a hearing as soon as practicable
and at a location convenient to the Board and the parties to appear
before it.
(g) When the Board sets a hearing pursuant to subsection
(f)(3) of this section, it shall notify the trial officials of the
county of conviction and the attorney general of the State of Texas
and allow any such official(s), or the designated representatives
thereof, the opportunity to attend the hearing and/or to present any
relevant information. At the time of notifying the trial officials,
the Board shall also notify any representative of the family of the
victim (who has previously requested to be notified) of the receipt
of the application, the setting of a hearing, and of said representative
or family member's rights to provide any written comments or to attend
the hearing.
(h) All hearings conducted by the Board under this
section shall be in open session pursuant to requirements of the Texas
Open Meetings Act. For the purpose of discussing matters which are
deemed confidential by statute, or where otherwise authorized by the
provisions of the Texas Open Meetings Act, the proceedings may be
conducted in executive session closed to members of the general public,
for that limited purpose. Only those persons whose privacy interests
and right to confidentiality may be abridged by discussion involving
disclosure of confidential information may be allowed to meet with
members of the Board in their executive session to discuss that information.
No decision, vote, or final action by the Board shall be made during
a closed meeting; the Board's decision, vote, or final action shall
be made and announced in an open meeting. The hearing may be recessed
prior to its completion and reconvened pursuant to the directions
of the Board.
(i) Advocates for and against the death penalty, generally,
and members of the general public may present written information
for the Board's consideration at its central office headquarters at
any reasonable time.
(j) After the conclusion of the hearing, the Board
shall render its decision, reached by majority vote, within a reasonable
time, which decision shall be either to:
(1) recommend to the Governor a reprieve from execution;
(2) not recommend a reprieve from execution; or
(3) recess the proceedings without rendering a decision
on the merits, if a reprieve has been granted by the Governor or if
a court of competent jurisdiction has granted a stay of execution.
(k) Each of the provisions of this section and §143.42
of this title (relating to Reprieve Recommended by the Board) are
subject to waiver by the Board when it finds that there exists good
and adequate cause to suspend said provisions and adopt a different
procedure which it finds to be better suited to the exigencies of
the individual case before it.
(l) Successive or repetitious reprieve applications
submitted in behalf of the same offender may be summarily denied by
the Board without meeting.
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Source Note: The provisions of this §143.43 adopted to be effective January 4, 1984, 8 TexReg 5423; amended to be effective October 19, 1984, 9 TexReg 5164; amended to be effective March 17, 1987, 12 TexReg 732; amended to be effective May 11, 1999, 24 TexReg 3538; amended to be effective August 17, 1999, 24 TexReg 6311; amended to be effective August 10, 2006, 31 TexReg 6236; amended to be effective September 13, 2012, 37 TexReg 7189; amended to be effective November 9, 2014, 39 TexReg 8598; amended to be effective May 9, 2018, 43 TexReg 2796; amended to be effective August 5, 2021, 46 TexReg 4699 |