The Many Ways to Commit Assault with a Motor Vehicle in Texas

Faced with the question of whether Reckless Driving is a lesser-included offense of Aggravated Assault With a Deadly Weapon (A Vehicle), the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals explained that there are, indeed, many ways in which a vehicle can be used as a deadly weapon apart from the vehicle being driven, to wit:

• Locking the victim in a hot car,
• Slamming the victim’s head again the car frame,
• Rigging the car’s gas tank to explode,
• Placing the car in neutral and allowing it to run into the victim or a building,
• Suffocating the victim in the trunk, or
• Running the car in an enclosed area to cause carbon monoxide poisoning.

The CCA used this creative list to reverse the 5th Court of Appeals (Dallas), which had previously held that the trial court erred by not instructing the jury that it could find appellant guilty of the LIO of Reckless Driving if it believed the State did not prove Aggravated Assault w/a Deadly Weapon. The appellant argued at trial and on appeal that the LIO should apply, thereby giving the jury another option.

I apologize for the lack of analysis, but this case is really only interesting for nerds like me. I just found the CCA’s list of ways to use a vehicle for assault comical.

You can read the unanimous CCA opinion (Rice v. State) HERE.