Texas Penal Code 20.06 – Continuous Smuggling of Persons
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(a) A person commits an offense if, during a period that is 10 or more days in duration, the person engages two or more times in conduct that constitutes an offense under § 20.05.
(b) If a jury is the trier of fact, members of the jury are not required to agree unanimously on which specific conduct engaged in by the defendant constituted an offense under § 20.05 or on which exact date the defendant engaged in that conduct. The jury must agree unanimously that the defendant, during a period that is 10 or more days in duration, engaged two or more times in conduct that constitutes an offense under § 20.05.
Terms Used In Texas Penal Code 20.06
- Bodily injury: means physical pain, illness, or any impairment of physical condition. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
- Conduct: means an act or omission and its accompanying mental state. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
- Death: includes , for an individual who is an unborn child, the failure to be born alive. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
- Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
- Felony: means an offense so designated by law or punishable by death or confinement in a penitentiary. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
- Individual: means a human being who is alive, including an unborn child at every stage of gestation from fertilization until birth. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
- Justice: when applied to a magistrate, means justice of the peace. See Texas Government Code 312.011
- Person: means an individual or a corporation, association, limited liability company, or other entity or organization governed by the Business Organizations Code. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
- Serious bodily injury: means bodily injury that creates a substantial risk of death or that causes death, serious permanent disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
- Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
(c) If the victim of an offense under Subsection (a) is the same victim as a victim of an offense under § 20.05, a defendant may not be convicted of the offense under § 20.05 in the same criminal action as the offense under Subsection (a), unless the offense under § 20.05:
(1) is charged in the alternative;
(2) occurred outside the period in which the offense alleged under Subsection (a) was committed; or
(3) is considered by the trier of fact to be a lesser included offense of the offense alleged under Subsection (a).
(d) A defendant may not be charged with more than one count under Subsection (a) if all of the conduct that constitutes an offense under § 20.05 is alleged to have been committed against the same victim.
(e) Except as provided by Subsections (f) and (g), an offense under this section is a felony of the second degree with a minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years.
(f) An offense under this section is a felony of the first degree with a minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years if:
(1) the conduct constituting an offense under § 20.05 is conducted in a manner that creates a substantial likelihood that the smuggled individual will suffer serious bodily injury or death; or
(2) the smuggled individual is a child younger than 18 years of age at the time of the offense.
(g) An offense under this section is a felony of the first degree, punishable by imprisonment in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for life or for any term of not more than 99 years or less than 25 years, if:
(1) it is shown on the trial of the offense that, as a direct result of the commission of the offense, the smuggled individual became a victim of sexual assault, as defined by § 22.011, or aggravated sexual assault, as defined by § 22.021; or
(2) the smuggled individual suffered serious bodily injury or death.