- (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), in each case enumerated in this Code, the person making the arrest or the person having custody of the person arrested shall take the person arrested or have him taken without unnecessary delay, but not later than 48 hours after the person is arrested, before the magistrate who may have ordered the arrest, before some magistrate of the county where the arrest was made without an order, or, if necessary to provide more expeditiously to the person arrested the warnings described by Article 15.17 of this Code, before a magistrate in a county bordering the county in which the arrest was made. The magistrate shall immediately perform the duties described in Article 15.17 of this Code.
- (b) A peace officer who is charging a person, including a child, with committing an offense that is a Class C misdemeanor, other than an offense under Section 49.02, Penal Code, may, instead of taking the person before a magistrate, issue a citation to the person that contains written notice of the time and place the person must appear before a magistrate, the name and address of the person charged, and the offense charged.
Acts 1965, 59th Leg., vol. 2, p. 317, ch. 722.
Amended by Acts 1967, 60th Leg., p. 1735, ch. 659, Sec. 10, eff. Aug. 28, 1967.
Amended by Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 455, Sec. 1, eff. Aug. 31, 1987;
Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 84, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1991. Subsec. (b) amended by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 900, Sec. 1.05, eff. Sept. 1, 1994; amended by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 262, Sec. 81, eff. Jan. 1, 1996; Subsec. (a) amended by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 906, Sec. 3, eff. Jan. 1, 2002.
Acts 2017, 85th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1127 (S.B. 1913), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2017.