A person commits an offense if the person operates a motor vehicle in a public place and is intoxicated and because of the intoxication causes death of another by accident or mistake. This offense has a possible punishment of up to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Example: Joe Public and a group of his buddies Ron, Guy and Rick are out cruising the town. The guys have a case of beer in Joe’s car, and all four of them are slamming them down. Joe is the driver and he is getting pretty drunk. Joe is not paying attention and does not see a sharp turn in the road. Joe’s car skids off the road and runs head first into a tree. All of Joe’s friends are killed in the crash.
Joe is charged with three counts of Intoxicated Manslaughter. If Joe is tried for these offenses he could get up to 60 years in prison, even if the cases are all tried together. Under Penal Code Section 3.03(b)(1)(A) this type of offense allows the stacking of criminal punishment regardless of whether the cases are tried together or separate.
