Driving While Intoxicated Case Law Update - Texas District ...

W. EXPUNCTION WILL NOT ALWAYS RENDER UNDERLYING FACTS OF CASE
INADMISSIBLE IN PUNISHMENT PHASE
Doty v. State, 2005 WL 1240697 (Tex.App.-Austin May 26, 2005)(mem.op., Not designated for
pubfication), pet. dism'd, improvidently granted, No. PD-1159-05, 2007 WL 841112
(Tex. Crim.App.2007)(Not designated for publication).
In the punishment phase of an lntoxication Manslaughter case, the evidence of Defendant's bad
driving, appearance, admission of drinking, and result of FSIs was held to be admissible. That the
Defendantwas arrested was held to be inadmrssrble. Thiswasthe case even though the DWI case
in question resulted in an acquiftal and the case was expunged. The officer sard his testimony was
based on his memory and not on the records.
X. FELONY DWl CAN BE THE UNDERLYING FELONY IN A "FELONY MURDER"
CHARGE
Alami v. State, 333 S.W.3d 881 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 2011, reh. overruled).
Felony DWI can serve as the underlying felony in a felony-murder prosecution.
Jones v. State, 2008 WL 2579897 (Tex.App.-Houston [14 Dist.] 2008, pdr filed) (Not designated
for publication).
lnupholdingthisfelonymurderconviction,thecourtrejectedallofthedefendanf'spornfs. TheCourt
found that the underlying DWI was properly considered as a felony, that there was no need to allege
a culpable mentalsfafe, and that felony murder and intoxication manslaughter were not in pari
materia.
Mendoza v. State, 2006 WL 2328508 (Tex.App.-El Paso, 2006, pdr ref'd) (not designated for
publication).
tn affirming this fetony murder conviction, the Court held that since felony DWt is nof a /esserincluded
offense of manslaughter, felony DWI may be the underlying felony for the offense of felony
murder. It further held that when felony DWI is the underlying felony, the State rs nof required to
prove a culpable mentalsfafe as felony DWI requires no such proof.
Strickland v. State,193 S.W.3d 662 (Tex.Ap.-Fort Worth 2006, pdr ref'd).
Ihr.s case involved an offender who in the course of commifting a felony DWI drove the wrong way
down a highway and crashed into an oncoming vehicle, killing the front seaf passenger. The
defense argued that the proper charge was "intoxication manslaughter" and that the State was
barred from proceeding by the doctrine of "pari materia." In rejecting that argument, the Court of
Appeals found that the felony murder statute and intoxication manslaughter required different
elements of proof. Penalties for felony murder and intoxication manslaughter were different;
although both statutes seryed general purpose of imposing criminal responsibility for death and
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