37 Tex. Admin. Code § 1.91 - Civil Cases
(a) Findings, facts,
data, information, and opinions based on such findings, facts, data, or
information gained by a Texas Department of Public Safety employee from and
during the course of his employment, if requested while such person is employed
by the department, shall be considered as being the product of state employment
and will be generally made available through court testimony by the employee on
state time and expense.
(b) Members
of the department of public safety will only testify in civil suits involving
or arising from an official act after being served with a subpoena directing
his appearance in court. This does not apply to suits to which the employee or
the department is a party.
(c)
Members of the department will not accept civil subpoenas for trials at which
they cannot be legally compelled to attend unless specifically instructed to do
so.
(d) Employees may be assigned
to give expert testimony for the Texas Department of Public Safety or other
governmental agencies, and, while doing so, will be on official duty at state
expense. Such assignments will be determined by the appropriate administrative
division chief, criminal law enforcement commander, regional commander, or
special section head.
(e) Employees
who serve as expert witnesses in instances not arising from official acts of
the department of public safety will testify off duty at no expense to the
state. Employees affected by this policy will comply with the following.
(1) The employee must be under legal process
or obtain departmental approval when testimony is given, and will testify off
duty, at no expense to the state. An employee will not testify at a trial if
deposition testimony can be arranged in lieu of the court appearance.
Departmental approval shall be obtained as follows:
(A) administrative personnel division
chief;
(B) criminal law enforcement
personnel service commander;
(C)
traffic law enforcement personnel regional commander.
(2) When an employee becomes aware that civil
testimony may be required, the supervisor will be consulted and the
employee-witness will make arrangements to minimize inconvenience to the state.
Civil court testimony will not take precedence over testimony in criminal cases
unless required by law.
(3)
Physical evidence and laboratory records will only be released under legal
process.
(4) No employee will
solicit requests to appear as an expert witness.
Notes
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