Intoxication Assault FAQs - Part 4

 Posted on July 11, 2024 in DUI/DWI

Being charged with intoxication assault can leave your future in jeopardy. Because intoxication assault is a felony offense, you could be facing more than a year of time in prison, not to mention a long-term suspension of your driving privileges. Injuring someone while committing a DWI is a serious crime. If you are up on intoxication assault charges, you need a highly experienced Harris County, TX felony DWI lawyer to help you.

Can I Commit Intoxication Assault on a Golf Cart? 

Yes, depending on where you operate the golf cart. Operating a golf cart in a public place while intoxicated, causing serious bodily injury, can constitute intoxication assault under Texas Penal Code Section 49.07. A golf cart qualifies as a motor vehicle under the penal code sections cited and quoted just above. But to prove an intoxication assault charge under Section 49.07, the prosecutor must have evidence of the golf cart's operation "in a public place." Texas penal code sections do not define a "public place." A public highway or road would certainly qualify as a public place. But Texas's appellate courts have decided cases indicating that "public place" also means a place to which the public has access.

Thus, operating a golf cart on a golf course or cart path to which the public has access can qualify as operating a motor vehicle in a public place. Operating a golf cart on your own land from which you exclude the public, or on other private lands the public has no access to, should not result in an intoxication assault charge. In either case, beware of operating golf carts while intoxicated.

What if a Serious Injury Occurs on Private Land? 

A serious bodily injury on private land, caused by a motor vehicle driver's intoxication, can result in an intoxication assault charge under Texas Penal Code Section 49.07 if the vehicle's operation was in a public place, meaning a place to which the public had access. The land's ownership, whether public or private, is not the question. Under Texas case law, the question is instead whether the public has access to the land. For example, intoxication assault charges could result under any of these circumstances, if the operator's intoxication caused serious bodily injury to another:

• Operating a motor vehicle in the parking lots and drives of a privately owned mall or shopping area to which the public has access;

• Operating a motor vehicle on a private road to which the public has access;

• Operating a motor vehicle in a privately owned parking lot of a restaurant or retail facility open to the public;

• Operating a motor vehicle in a privately owned parking lot of a manufacturing or other facility, where the public has parking lot access;

• Operating an off-road motor vehicle on privately owned lands open to the public for off-roading;

• Operating a motorcycle on private land open to the public for motorcycle off-roading; or

• Operating a golf cart on a privately owned course open to the public.

Contact a Houston, TX Intoxication Assault Lawyer 

Murphy & McKinney Law Firm, P.C. is highly experienced in felony DWI defense. Renowned Harris County, TX intoxication assault attorney Doug Murphy is widely recognized as one of the most qualified DWI lawyers in Texas. Contact us at 713-229-8333 for a complimentary consultation.