11.09.2010

The Guy Responsible For The Most Famous DWI Book In Photo In Recent History


. . . pled guilty yesterday to Murder and other charges related to his intoxicated crash earlier this year that left a mother and her teenage daughter dead.. He was scheduled to go to trial that day but instead the jury will only be called upon to assess punishment.

As I've mentioned here before, the State gets to charge him with murder by being very creative. He had at least two prior misdemeanor DWI convictions so the act of driving drunk again means he was committing a felony. And since he was committing a felony, there's a little used portion of the Penal Code that kicks in which allows someone to be charged with Murder if, stay with me here, during the commission of a felony act he "commits . . . an act clearly dangerous to human life that causes the death of another individual." See Texas Penal Code § 19.02(b)(3).  The key to that provision is that it does not require a defendant to INTEND to kill another -- which is typically required in murder prosecutions.

He faces up to life in prison. He might get it.