SECTION 143.43. Procedure in Capital Reprieve Cases

(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.

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