SECTION 6. Subsection (a), Section 6, Article 49.25,
Code of Criminal Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
(a) Any medical examiner, or his duly authorized deputy,
shall be authorized, and it shall be his duty, to hold
inquests with or without a jury within his county,
in the following cases:
1. When a person shall die within twenty-four hours
after admission to a hospital or institution or in
prison or in jail;
2. When any person is killed; or from any cause dies
an unnatural death, except under sentence of the law;
or dies in the absence of one or more good witnesses;
3. When the body or a body part of a person
is found, the cause or circumstances of death are unknown,
and:
(A) the person [body] is identified;
or
(B) the person [body] is unidentified;
4. When the circumstances of the death of any person
are such as to lead to suspicion that he came to his
death by unlawful means;
5. When any person commits suicide, or the circumstances
of his death are such as to lead to suspicion that
he committed suicide;
6. When a person dies without having been attended
by a duly licensed and practicing physician, and the
local health officer or registrar required to report
the cause of death under Section 193.005, Health and
Safety Code, does not know the cause of death. When
the local health officer or registrar of vital statistics
whose duty it is to certify the cause of death does
not know the cause of death, he shall so notify the
medical examiner of the county in which the death occurred
and request an inquest;
7. When the person is a child who is younger than six
years of age and the death is reported under Chapter
264, Family Code; and
8. When a person dies who has been attended immediately
preceding his death by a duly licensed and practicing
physician or physicians, and such physician or physicians
are not certain as to the cause of death and are unable
to certify with certainty the cause of death as required
by Section 193.004, Health and Safety Code. In case
of such uncertainty the attending physician or physicians,
or the superintendent or general manager of the hospital
or institution in which the deceased shall have died,
shall so report to the medical examiner of the county
in which the death occurred, and request an inquest.
SECTION 7. Section 13, Article 49.25, Code of Criminal
Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 13. USE OF FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGIST. On discovering
the body or a body part of a deceased person
in the circumstances described by Subdivision 3(B)
of Section 6(a), the medical examiner may request the
aid of a forensic anthropologist in the examination
of the body or body part. The forensic anthropologist
must hold a doctoral degree in anthropology with
an emphasis in physical anthropology [be
board-certified by a nationally recognized association
that accredits practitioners in the forensic sciences].
The forensic anthropologist shall attempt to establish
whether the body or body part is of a human
or animal, whether evidence of childbirth, injury,
or disease exists, and the sex, race, age, stature,
and physical anomalies of the body or body part.
The forensic anthropologist may also attempt to establish
the cause, manner, and time of death.
SECTION 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.
SECTION 9. The change in law made by this Act applies
only to the discovery of a body part of a person that
is made on or after the effective date of this Act.
A discovery made before the effective date of this
Act is covered by the law in effect when the discovery
was made, and the former law is continued in effect
for that purpose.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate
Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 356 passed the Senate
on April 25, 2003, by the following vote: Yeas 31,
Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 356 passed the House
on May 28, 2003, by a non-record vote.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor