Tex.
Code of Crim. Proc. Article 24.29
Uniform Act to Secure Rendition of Prisoners in Criminal Proceedings
(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.(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.(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.(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.
Source:
Article 24.29 — Uniform Act to Secure Rendition of Prisoners in Criminal Proceedings, https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/CR/htm/CR.24.htm#24.29
(accessed Apr. 20, 2024).