Legal Question in Criminal Law in Texas

This is a serious charge. You need to consult a criminal defense attorney to represent you.

In Texas, involuntary manslaughter appears to be divided into two offenses:

(1) intoxication manslaughter, which is a second degree felony punishable by a prison term from 2 to 20 years in the texas department of corrections and an optional fine of $10,000 or

This requires that you are operating a motor vehicle in a pubic place, that you are intoxicated and by reason of that intoxication causes the death of another by accident or mistake.. The advantage of going to prison is the possibility of parole. There is no parole from a state jail.

(2) criminally negligent homicide which is a state jail felony, punishable by a 180 days to 2 years in a state jail facility.

This requires that you cause the death of another by criminal negligence. This is the definition of criminal negligence- a person is criminally negligent ... with respect to circumstances surrounding his conduct when he ought to be aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the circumstances exist or that the result will occur. The risk must be of such a nature and degree that the failure to perceive it constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that an ordinary person would exercise under all the circumstances as viewed from the actor's standpoint.

Here is the definition of causation:

A person is criminally responsible if the result would not have occurred but for his conduct, operating either alone or concurrently with another cause unless the concurrent cause was clearly sufficient to produce the result and the conduct of the actor clearly insufficient.

You have the option of taking the case to trial or negotiating a plea bargain. Trial is the only option that offers an acquittal. However with a plea bargain, you have more control over the result. In the felony courts with which I am familiar, defendants agree on a jail sentence and if they wish then apply for probation or deferred adjudication. Prosecutors can recommend, oppose or agree not to oppose probation. The probation office will conduct a pre sentence investigation and make a report to the sentencing court. It would be good if your attorney had a report prepared as well. The court will review the report(s) listen to any arguments and make a decision on the application.

Since this is your first offense, you are likely to qualify for probation, if not deferred adjudication. Also, under section 12.44 of the Texas Penal Code, A first time state jail felony can be punished as a Class A misdemeanor which has a maximum time of 1 year in the county jail. Another advantage is that in county jails you may receive good time credits of 1 day for every day served (reducing your sentence by half) or 2 days for every day served (if you are trusty) which will reduce your sentence by 2/3.

With regular probation the court convicts you and at a sentencing hearing imposes a sentence. It then probates that sentence and imposes the terms of probation.

Deferred adjudication is just like regular probation except that there is no conviction. However if your probation is subsequently revoked, the court will have to convict you and impose sentence which could be up to the maximum allowed. With regular probation the court can only send you to jail for the sentence that was imposed.

If you successfully complete the deferred adjudication probation, and after the statute of limitations elapses you can file a petition for non-disclosure of criminal history. If granted, this will remove the fact of the arrest and the disposition of the case from most criminal record checks. There are a limited number of agencies that can find out about the charge and case. Also the courts and law enforcement will know about it. Deferred Adjudication will not be available to you if you are charged with intoxication manslaughter.

Again, this is a serious charge, you need to have a criminal defense attorney on your side to help you make the best choices for you.