FastLaws: 2004 Texas Penal Code, Sec. 37.09. Tampering with or Fabricating Physical Evidence.

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Baker's Texas Penal Code Handbook includes the full text of the Texas Penal Code as amended through the 79th Session of the Texas Legislature, and contains over 16,000 case notes from reported Texas court decisions, constituting a one-volume annotated Texas Penal Code. For more information visit the Baker's Texas Penal Code Handbook information page. The 2006 Edition of Baker's Texas Penal Code Handbook contains 178 case notes under Chapter 37. Use our order form to place your order today.

No amendments to this provision were enacted at the 79th Regular Session of the Texas Legisature (2005).

2004 Texas Penal Code

TITLE 8. OFFENSES AGAINST PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

CHAPTER 37. PERJURY AND OTHER FALSIFICATION

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Sec. 37.09. Tampering with or Fabricating Physical Evidence.

(a) A person commits an offense if, knowing that an investigation or official proceeding is pending or in progress, he:

(1) alters, destroys, or conceals any record, document, or thing with intent to impair its verity, legibility, or availability as evidence in the investigation or official proceeding; or

(2) makes, presents, or uses any record, document, or thing with knowledge of its falsity and with intent to affect the course or outcome of the investigation or official proceeding.

(b) This section shall not apply if the record, document, or thing concealed is privileged or is the work product of the parties to the investigation or official proceeding.

(c) An offense under Subsection (a) or Subsection (d)(1) is a felony of the third degree. An offense under Subsection (d)(2) is a Class A misdemeanor.

(d) A person commits an offense if the person:

(1) knowing that an offense has been committed, alters, destroys, or conceals any record, document, or thing with intent to impair its verity, legibility, or availability as evidence in any subsequent investigation of or official proceeding related to the offense; or

(2) observes human remains under circumstances in which a reasonable person would believe that an offense had been committed, knows or reasonably should know that a law enforcement agency is not aware of the existence of or location of the remains, and fails to report the existence of and location of the remains to a law enforcement agency.

Acts 1973, 63rd Leg., p. 883, ch. 399, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1974. Amended by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 565, Sec. 4, eff. Sept. 1, 1991; Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 900, Sec. 1.01, eff. Sept. 1, 1994; Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 1284, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.

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