AUSTIN, Texas — After being left pending following its April 1 hearing, House Bill 929 — Bo’s Law — was passed by the Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee Thursday night.
Now, the bipartisan bill named after Botham Jean heads to the Calendars Committee for a vote. The bill would clarify the state’s "castle doctrine" and force police to maintain the use of body cameras during investigations.
“I’ve certainly been in talks with law enforcement and have gained a lot more support than initially,” said Rep. Carl Sherman prior to the vote by the Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee.
But the passing of House Bill 929 did not come without some changes.
“The bill is not how it started off,” Sherman said. “Obviously, some things have been paired off, and the bill focuses now on the body cam issue and ensuring that the integrity of the police profession is maintained by ensuring that body cams have to remain on during an investigation unless otherwise, according to policy, that would also be documented.”
In the hearing before the Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee, multiple representatives of law enforcement agencies voiced concerns over the proposed legislation causing Sherman and others to go back to the drawing board to devise a bill that addressed law enforcement concerns as well as matters of interest to Jean's family.
“It was painful, because you work hard to craft a bill that you want to be substantive addressing some of these systemic problems that we’ve had in law enforcement to create systemic accountability in law enforcement,” said Sherman. “However, in understanding that politics is a process of amelioration, unfortunately like football, it’s a game of inches and sometimes every now and then you might get a Hail Mary. But, on most days, you get little advancement.”
On Sept. 6, 2018, Jean was shot and killed by former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger. After working a nearly 14-hour shift, she told investigators that she mistook Jean’s apartment for hers at the South Side Flats. Guyger lived one floor below Jean.
Believing that the 26-year-old was an intruder, she claimed she shot him in self-defense. When officers arrived on scene, they learned that Botham was unarmed and also eating ice cream while watching television at the time of the deadly incident.
Guyger's attorneys introduced the Castle Doctrine and the mistake-of-fact defense to plead her innocence. But a jury found her guilty of murder in September 2019. Now, she’s hoping to having that charge dismissed or reduced by an appellate court.
Notable changes to the bill include language stipulating the length of time a peace officer’s body camera must stay on. Initially, if a peace officer was involved in an investigation, the bill would require one to keep it on throughout the duration of the officer’s shift. However, the updated bill now states:
“A policy described by subsection (a) must require a peace officer who participates in an investigation, as defined by Section 38.20, Penal Code, to keep a body worn camera activated for the entirety of the investigation unless the camera has been collected as evidence by another peace officer in accordance with: (1) the policy described by Subsection (a) and any other policy adopted by the law enforcement agency regarding the collection of evidence; and (2) applicable law.”
During the trial, jurors learned that Guyger was instructed to turn off her cameras to speak privately about the deadly shooting, thus losing potential evidence. The amended bill includes stipulations for peace officers regarding the deactivation of a recording device, including audio and visual equipment:
(b) A person commits an offense if the person knows that an investigation is ongoing and intentionally or knowingly deactivates, orders the deactivation of, or causes to be deactivated a recording device being used in the investigation. (c) An offense under this section is a felony of the third degree. (d) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under this section that:
(1) the recording device was a body worn camera; (2) the actor is a peace officer, other than the peace officer to whom the body worn camera was issued; and (3) the actor deactivated the body worn camera in accordance with: (A) any policy adopted by the employing law enforcement agency regarding the collection of evidence; and (B) applicable law. (e) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under this section that: (1) the actor is not a peace officer; and (2) the actor deactivated the recording device at the request or command of a peace officer who made the request or command in accordance with: (A) any policy adopted by the employing law enforcement agency regarding the collection of evidence; and (B) applicable law.
According to Sherman, the Jean family still stands behind HB 929, despite the changes to the original bill.
“I’ve always kept the family of Botham Jean informed and they are in support of this progress and that’s important to me — that’s key,” he said. “I would no longer advocate for the bill if they felt that the bill did not accomplish some significance in establishing systemic accountability in law enforcement.”
After talking to the chair of the Calendars Committee, Rep. Dustin Borrows, Sherman expressed confidence that HB 929 would go to the floor for a vote before the regular legislative comes to an end next month.
“We’re going to continue to advocate and push for the bill to come out of Calendars and then once they vote on it in Calendars, if it’s released, it comes to the House for the House to vote on it and then it would go over to the Senate side where the Senate companion is SB 380,” he said.
If passed this legislative session, Bo’s Law would go into effect on Sept. 1, 2021.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Due to a transcription error, a previous version of this story did not use the word amelioration in a quote from Rep. Sherman. The quote has been corrected. (May 4, 2021)