Mark Wayne Lomax, Appellant v. the State of Texas

Summary

The Court of Criminal Appeals held that Texas Penal Code §19.02(b)(3) plainly dispenses with a culpable mental state, allowing felony driving while intoxicated to serve as the underlying felony in a felony‑murder prosecution, and that felony DWI is not a lesser‑included offense of intoxication manslaughter. The Court overruled the portion of Rodriguez that required a mental state for the act of murder and affirmed the conviction. A dissent argued that the special intoxication manslaughter statute should preclude felony‑murder charges based on felony DWI.