When Being Drunk is a Crime & When it’s a Defense to a Crime

January 2, 2021

By Texas Criminal Defense Lawyer Jeremy Rosenthal

(972) 369-0577

www.texasdefensefirm.com

When Being Drunk is a Crime

The rule of thumb with intoxication in Texas is this:  it’s perfectly legal until you’re dangerous.  The threshold changes depending on what you’re doing.

For public intoxication (a fine-only offense) you’re guilty if you’re dangerous to yourself or others just being in public.

For driving while intoxicated it’s if you’re dangerous being behind the wheel of a motor vehicle which weighs a few tons and can go 100 mph.  DWI offenses range from class b misdemeanors (up to 180 days county jail) to 2nd degree felonies for intoxicated manslaughter (2 to 20 years in prison).

When Being Drunk is a Defense to a Crime

Voluntary intoxication is specifically excluded as a defense to a crime in Texas under Tex.Pen.C. 8.04.  Involuntary intoxication may be a defense – but it is extremely rare and difficult to prove.

This topic gets very legally complex very fast – so I’ll do my best to help it make sense.

Intoxication normally goes to undermine the “intent” requirement of most crimes.  If a person is intoxicated, then, they might not have intended to commit whatever crime, right?  The answer would depend on if the person intended to ingest something intoxicating or not — or if they ingested something via fraud or distress rendering the intoxication involuntary.

Adding another layer of confusion is this: not all crimes require intent anyways.  So drunk or not if the person did the criminal act then they are guilty.  Examples would could be statutory rape, selling alcohol to a minor or even speeding.  The prosecution doesn’t have to prove what you intended in those cases – much less whether a person was in their right state of mind.

Probably the easiest way to summarize this is through a few examples:

  • DWI Where drug was unknowingly put into someone’s drink:
    • Not a defense;
    • There is no “intent” requirement in drunk driving cases so even if it were “involuntary” intoxication it wouldn’t matter.
  • Theft where person was impaired due to prescription drugs;
    • Not a defense
    • The intoxication would be considered “voluntary” even if the person didn’t fully understand the impact of the medication or the medication had an unpredictable outcome.
      • The issue is whether the person “voluntarily” ingested the medication.
  • Robbery where a person had a cup of water spiked with an unknown intoxicant;
    • This would be a rare example of involuntary intoxication being a defense;
      • The impairment was caused by fraud;
      • The involuntary impairment negates the intent element required in robbery.

The effect of intoxication in cases can be obvious in most instances and legally complex in others.

*Jeremy Rosenthal is certified in criminal law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.  He is recognized as a Super Lawyer by Thomson Reuters.

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Posted by niftybrady

Intoxication for PI is Higher than Intoxication for DWI

April 24, 2010

By Collin County Criminal Defense Lawyer Jeremy Rosenthal

texasdefensefirm.com

(972) 369-0577

For the state to convict you of public intoxication, or PI for short, they must prove your level of intoxication is even higher than it would be for a DWI.

Here’s why:  Texas Penal Code 49.01(2) defines intoxicated (in relevant part) as, “not having the normal use of mental or physical faculties by reason of the introduction of alcohol, a controlled substance, a drug, a dangerous drug, a combination of two or more of those substances, or any other substance into the body…”

The above definition of 49.01(2) is the definition used for Driving While Intoxicated in 49.04.

Here’s the difference, though — PI is governed by 49.02 and that code specifically says, “a person commits an offense if the person appears in a pubic place while intoxicated to the degree that the person may endanger the person or another.”

In other words, not only does the person have to be intoxicated (defined by 49.01(2)), but they ALSO must be so to the degree they may “endanger the person or another.”

A simple way of putting it is that to be convicted of DWI, a person must have consumed alcohol to the extent they are dangerous behind the wheel of the car — to get a PI, they must be dangerous merely by being in public.  Obviously it makes sense that there is a stricter standard for operating a motor vehicle.

Public Intoxication cases are class c misdemeanors — meaning they’re lower offenses than DWI.  PI arrests are highly subjective and frankly often done for crowd control reasons or even in cases where the passenger in a car is highly intoxicated (and the driver is getting hooked-up for DWI).  Many officers know that their arrests may very well not end up in convictions, but they feel they are necessary anyway and are supported by the lower burdens of probable cause.

*Jeremy Rosenthal is Board Certified in Criminal Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and licensed by the Supreme Court of Texas. Nothing in this article is intended to be legal advice.  For legal advice, you should directly consult an attorney.

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Posted by Jeremy Rosenthal, Esq.