Texas DWI Intoxication Assault FAQs - Part 3

 Posted on June 27, 2024 in DUI/DWI

If you have been charged with the felony offense of intoxication assault after a DWI accident, you need a highly experienced and knowledgeable Houston, TX criminal defense lawyer to help you. Drunk drivers never think that they are going to cause an accident and hurt someone, but it happens all too frequently. Texas’s intoxication assault laws apply to people driving most types of motor vehicles, even if the vehicle in question does not belong on the roads. This is because almost any type of motorized vehicle can cause injury to others if the person operating it is intoxicated.

What Counts as a Motor Vehicle for Intoxication Assault? 

More vehicles count as motor vehicles for purposes of an intoxication assault charge than you might think. For purposes of the intoxication assault crime and other DWI crimes, Texas Penal Code Section 49.01(3) defines a motor vehicle as having "the meaning assigned by Section 32.34(a)." Texas Penal Code Section 32.34(a) defines a motor vehicle as "a device in, on, or by which a person or property is or may be transported or drawn on a highway, except a device used exclusively on stationary rails or tracks." 

Thus, to count for an intoxication assault charge, the motor vehicle need not be street legal. Prosecutors have argued under the statute that any motorized vehicle capable of transporting or drawing a person or property on a highway, including things like off-road vehicles and even go-karts will do, even if its manufacturer did not design it for public highways. Prosecutors have even charged bicyclists with DWI crimes, although the statute's "motor vehicle" language clearly indicates that bicycles do not qualify for intoxication assault and other DWI crimes. Motorized vehicles of many types, though, will do.

Can I Commit Intoxication Assault on a Motorcycle? 

Yes. With the broad definition that Texas Penal Code Sections 49.01(3) and 34.32(a) give to motor vehicles, motorcycle DWI is basically the same DWI crime charged under Texas Penal Code Section 49.04 as a motor vehicle DWI. The same would be true as to the intoxication assault crime charged under Texas Penal Code Section 49.07. Whether the intoxicated operator causes serious bodily injury to another with a car, truck, or motorcycle, intoxication assault would be the crime.

Contact a Harris County, TX Intoxication Assault Attorney

Murphy & McKinney Law Firm, P.C. focuses its practice on DWI cases, allowing it to understand DWI law at a level most law firms cannot. Houston, TX felony DWI lawyer Doug Murphy is Board Certified in DWI Defense by the National College of DUI Defense. Contact us at 713-229-8333 for a complimentary consultation.