AI-assisted research summary: This section lets a prosecuting attorney refer certain juvenile petitions to a grand jury, and it limits referral for some sexual-offense allegations unless the child is more than three years older than the victim.
Sec. 53.045. OFFENSES ELIGIBLE FOR DETERMINATE SENTENCE. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (e), the prosecuting attorney may refer the petition to the grand jury of the county in which the court in which the petition is filed presides if the petition alleges that the child engaged in delinquent conduct that constitutes habitual felony conduct as described by Section 51.031 or that included the violation of any of the following provisions: (1) Section 19.02, Penal Code (murder); (2) Section 19.03, Penal Code (capital murder); (3) Section 19.04, Penal Code (manslaughter); (4) Section 20.04, Penal Code (aggravated kidnapping); (5) Section 22.011, Penal Code (sexual assault) or Section 22.021, Penal Code (aggravated sexual assault); (6) Section 22.02, Penal Code (aggravated assault); (7) Section 29.03, Penal Code (aggravated robbery); (8) Section 22.04, Penal Code (injury to a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual), if the offense is punishable as a felony, other than a state jail felony; (9) Section 22.05(b), Penal Code (felony deadly conduct involving discharging a firearm); (10) Subchapter D, Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code, if the conduct constitutes a felony of the first degree or an aggravated controlled substance felony (certain offenses involving controlled substances); (11) Section 15.03, Penal Code (criminal solicitation); (12) Section 21.11(a)(1), Penal Code (indecency with a child); (13) Section 15.031, Penal Code (criminal solicitation of a minor); (14) Section 15.01, Penal Code (criminal attempt), if the offense attempted was an offense under Section 19.02, Penal Code (murder), or Section 19.03, Penal Code (capital murder), or an offense listed by Article 42A.054(a), Code of Criminal Procedure; (15) Section 28.02, Penal Code (arson), if bodily injury or death is suffered by any person by reason of the commission of the conduct; (16) Section 49.08, Penal Code (intoxication manslaughter); or (17) Section 15.02, Penal Code (criminal conspiracy), if the offense made the subject of the criminal conspiracy includes a violation of any of the provisions referenced in Subdivisions (1) through (16). (b) A grand jury may approve a petition submitted to it under this section by a vote of nine members of the grand jury in the same manner that the grand jury votes on the presentment of an indictment. (c) The grand jury has all the powers to investigate the facts and circumstances relating to a petition submitted under this section as it has to investigate other criminal activity but may not issue an indictment unless the child is transferred to a criminal court as provided by Section 54.02 of this code. (d) If the grand jury approves of the petition, the fact of approval shall be certified to the juvenile court, and the certification shall be entered in the record of the case. For the purpose of the transfer of a child to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice as provided by Section 152.00161(c) or 245.151(c), Human Resources Code, as applicable, a juvenile court petition approved by a grand jury under this section is an indictment presented by the grand jury. (e) The prosecuting attorney may not refer a petition that alleges the child engaged in conduct that violated Section 22.011(a)(2), Penal Code, or Sections 22.021(a)(1)(B) and (2)(B), Penal Code, unless the child is more than three years older than the victim of the conduct. Added by Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 385, Sec. 7, eff. Sept. 1, 1987. Amended by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 574, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1991; Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 262, Sec. 26, 27, eff. Jan. 1, 1996; Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 1086, Sec. 8, eff. Sept. 1, 1997; Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1297, Sec. 19, eff. Sept. 1, 2001. Amended by: Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 908 (H.B. 2884), Sec. 10, eff. September 1, 2007. Acts 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., Ch. 85 (S.B. 653), Sec. 3.006, eff. September 1, 2011. Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 1299 (H.B. 2862), Sec. 14, eff. September 1, 2013. Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 770 (H.B. 2299), Sec. 2.31, eff. January 1, 2017. Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 854 (S.B. 1149), Sec. 2, eff. September 1, 2015.