Texas House Advances Bill to Limit ​‘Law of Parties’ in Capital Cases

On April 20, 2023, Texas leg­is­la­tors ini­tial­ly approved House Bill (HB) 1736 to lim­it the appli­ca­tion of the death penal­ty in cas­es where a defen­dant com­mits a felony that was accom­pa­nied by a mur­der car­ried out by some­one oth­er than the defen­dant. Many states have a ​“felony mur­der” rule, sim­i­lar to Texas’ ​“Law of Parties,” which pro­vides that if one per­son is found guilty of mur­der, the offend­er’s accom­plices or co-con­spir­a­tors may also be found guilty of mur­der, regard­less of their intent to kill. 

The pro­posed Texas leg­is­la­tion would only allow a sec­ondary par­tic­i­pant to be sub­ject to the death penalty if:

(1) the con­spir­a­tor is a major par­tic­i­pant in the conspiracy; 

(2) in attempt­ing to car­ry out the con­spir­a­cy, the con­spir­a­tor acts with reck­less indif­fer­ence to human life; and 

(3) the cap­i­tal mur­der was com­mit­ted in fur­ther­ance of the unlaw­ful pur­pose of the conspiracy.” 

Sec. 7.021 (pro­posed, emphasis added)

The spon­sor of the bill, Representative Jeff Leach (R‑Plano, pic­tured), stat­ed, ​“I’m thank­ful that HB 1736 passed the House again today. Capital pun­ish­ment should be uti­lized only when there is absolute con­fi­dence in the crime and the per­pe­tra­tor — under the exist­ing law of par­ties, we can’t do that —and it’s time to make that change.”