Texas Manslaughter Laws: Reckless, Negligent and Intoxication (2026)

Texas has one offense named manslaughter: recklessly causing the death of an individual under Penal Code 19.04, a second-degree felony punishable by 2 to 20 years in prison. Other offenses that cover deaths below murder include criminally negligent homicide (Penal Code 19.05), a state jail felony, and intoxication manslaughter (Penal Code 49.08), a second-degree felony that becomes first degree in the situations listed in Penal Code 49.09(b-2). For other states, see our guide to manslaughter laws by state.

Information last verified on 2026-10-17. This article has not been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers the Texas Penal Code offenses of manslaughter (19.04), criminally negligent homicide (19.05) and intoxication manslaughter (49.08, with the grading rules in 49.09), the mental-state definitions in Penal Code 6.03, the felony punishment ranges in Penal Code Chapter 12, and the community supervision and parole rules that apply to them. It does not cover murder or capital murder (see how long a life sentence lasts in Texas and our overview of murder sentencing guidelines), whether a killing was justified (see Texas self-defense laws), civil suits by a family (see Texas wrongful death claims), or federal offenses, which the manslaughter hub covers.

What is manslaughter in Texas?

Penal Code 19.01 defines criminal homicide as intentionally, knowingly, recklessly or with criminal negligence causing the death of an individual, and lists exactly four offenses: "Criminal homicide is murder, capital murder, manslaughter, or criminally negligent homicide." Intoxication manslaughter sits outside that list, in Penal Code Chapter 49 (intoxication and alcoholic beverage offenses).

Below murder, the main Texas homicide offenses are these three, separated by mental state and by intoxication:

• Manslaughter (Penal Code 19.04): "A person commits an offense if he recklessly causes the death of an individual."
• Criminally negligent homicide (Penal Code 19.05): "A person commits an offense if he causes the death of an individual by criminal negligence."
• Intoxication manslaughter (Penal Code 49.08): causing the death of another "by accident or mistake" while intoxicated and operating a motor vehicle in a public place, an aircraft, a watercraft or an amusement ride, or assembling a mobile amusement ride.

Texas has no numbered degrees of manslaughter, no offense called voluntary manslaughter and no offense called involuntary manslaughter. Our explainer on first, second and third degree manslaughter describes how other states use those labels.

Texas manslaughter offenses at a glance

The ranges come from the felony punishment sections of Penal Code Chapter 12. Penal Code 12.33 provides that a second-degree felony is punished by imprisonment in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice "for any term of not more than 20 years or less than 2 years," with an optional fine "not to exceed $10,000." Penal Code 12.32 sets the first-degree range at "life or for any term of not more than 99 years or less than 5 years," with the same fine ceiling. Penal Code 12.35(a) sets the state jail felony range at "not more than two years or less than 180 days" in a state jail, and 12.34(a) sets the third-degree range at 2 to 10 years.

Penal Code 12.42 raises the punishment range when prior felony convictions are shown. For example, under 12.42(b), except as provided by 12.42(c)(2) or (c)(4), a second-degree felony is punished as a first-degree felony if the defendant has previously been finally convicted of a felony other than a state jail felony punishable under 12.35(a). Our page on how Texas sentences each felony class covers the class system beyond homicide.

Is manslaughter a felony in Texas, and what is the sentence?

Yes. Each of the three main Texas homicide offenses below murder is a felony, and none has a misdemeanor grade:

• Manslaughter "is a felony of the second degree" (Penal Code 19.04(b)), 2 to 20 years.
• Criminally negligent homicide "is a state jail felony" (Penal Code 19.05(b)), 180 days to 2 years in a state jail.
• Intoxication manslaughter is, "except as provided by Section 49.09," a felony of the second degree (Penal Code 49.08(b)), 2 to 20 years.

The first-degree form of manslaughter is narrow. Under Penal Code 19.04(b), the offense is a first-degree felony only "if it is shown on the trial of the offense that the defendant committed an offense under Section 28.09 and that conduct caused the death of an individual." Section 28.09(b) is the offense of intentionally or knowingly damaging, destroying, vandalizing or impairing the function of a critical infrastructure facility, without the effective consent of its owner or operator, and as a result causing an extended power outage. The Legislature added that clause in 2023.

Criminally negligent homicide can be punished as a third-degree felony. Penal Code 12.35(c) provides that a state jail felony is punished as a third-degree felony if it is shown at trial that "a deadly weapon as defined by Section 1.07 was used or exhibited during the commission of the offense or during immediate flight following the commission of the offense," and that the individual used or exhibited it or was a party who knew it would be used or exhibited; the subsection also lists other circumstances.

Voluntary manslaughter in Texas: sudden passion

Texas has no voluntary manslaughter offense. What other states call heat-of-passion manslaughter is, in Texas, a sentencing issue inside a murder prosecution. Penal Code 19.02(d) provides:

"At the punishment stage of a trial, the defendant may raise the issue as to whether he caused the death under the immediate influence of sudden passion arising from an adequate cause. If the defendant proves the issue in the affirmative by a preponderance of the evidence, the offense is a felony of the second degree."

The offense remains murder; a sudden passion finding makes it a second-degree felony. Section 19.02(a) defines the two terms:

• "Adequate cause" means "cause that would commonly produce a degree of anger, rage, resentment, or terror in a person of ordinary temper, sufficient to render the mind incapable of cool reflection."
• "Sudden passion" means "passion directly caused by and arising out of provocation by the individual killed or another acting with the person killed which passion arises at the time of the offense and is not solely the result of former provocation."

Sections 19.02 and 19.04 contain no provision limiting a sudden passion claim based on the victim's sexual orientation or gender identity. Bills to add such a limit were filed in 2019 (H.B. 3281), 2021 (H.B. 73) and 2025 (H.B. 4328); none advanced out of committee. Whether a killing was justified is a separate question, covered on our page on Texas self-defense laws.

Reckless manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide

Texas's two unintentional homicide offenses in Chapter 19 turn on one question: was the person aware of the risk? Penal Code 6.03 supplies the definitions, and Penal Code 1.07 points to them for the whole code.

"A person acts recklessly, or is reckless, with respect to circumstances surrounding his conduct or the result of his conduct when he is aware of but consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the circumstances exist or the result will occur. The risk must be of such a nature and degree that its disregard 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." (Penal Code 6.03(c))

"A person acts with criminal negligence, or is criminally negligent, with respect to circumstances surrounding his conduct or the result of his conduct when he ought to be aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the circumstances exist or 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." (Penal Code 6.03(d))

A death caused by a person who perceived the risk and consciously disregarded it is manslaughter, a second-degree felony. A death caused by a person who failed to perceive a risk that the person ought to have been aware of is criminally negligent homicide, a state jail felony. In both, the risk must be substantial and unjustifiable, and the conduct must be a gross deviation from what an ordinary person would do.

Leading case: Montgomery v. State (2012)

In Montgomery v. State, 369 S.W.3d 188 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012), the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reviewed a criminally negligent homicide conviction. The court wrote that "the jury could have found that appellant failed to perceive the substantial and unjustifiable risk created by her conduct," and held: "We hold that the evidence was legally sufficient to support the jury's verdict of guilty of criminally negligent homicide." The court vacated the court of appeals' judgment and remanded the case for that court to address the remaining points of error.

Manslaughter and felony murder

Penal Code 19.02(b)(3), the felony-murder subsection, applies when a person commits or attempts to commit "a felony, other than manslaughter," and in the course of it commits an act clearly dangerous to human life that causes a death. Manslaughter therefore cannot be the underlying felony for a felony-murder charge under that subsection.

Intoxication manslaughter and vehicular deaths in Texas

Texas has no statute named vehicular homicide or vehicular manslaughter. A death involving a vehicle is most often charged under one of three offenses, depending on intoxication and mental state:

• Intoxication manslaughter (Penal Code 49.08), when the operator was intoxicated and the death was caused by reason of that intoxication.
• Manslaughter (Penal Code 19.04), when a driver recklessly causes a death.
• Criminally negligent homicide (Penal Code 19.05), when a death is caused by criminal negligence.

Other Texas statutes grade a vehicle death separately. Racing on a highway is a second-degree felony if, as a result of the offense, an individual suffered serious bodily injury or death (Transportation Code 545.420(h)). Evading arrest is a second-degree felony if another suffers death as a direct result of an attempt by the officer to apprehend the actor while the actor is in flight (Penal Code 38.04(b)). Leaving the scene of a fatal collision is listed below.

What intoxication manslaughter requires

Penal Code 49.08(a) provides that a person commits the offense if the person:

"(1) operates a motor vehicle in a public place, operates an aircraft, a watercraft, or an amusement ride, or assembles a mobile amusement ride; and (2) is intoxicated and by reason of that intoxication causes the death of another by accident or mistake."

The offense reaches boats, aircraft and amusement rides as well as cars, and the statute describes the death as caused "by accident or mistake." Penal Code 49.11(a) provides that "proof of a culpable mental state is not required for conviction of an offense under this chapter."

"Intoxicated" is defined in Penal Code 49.01(2) two ways. It means "not having the normal use of mental or physical faculties by reason of the introduction of alcohol, a controlled substance, a drug, a dangerous drug, a combination of two or more of those substances, or any other substance into the body," or "having an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more."

When intoxication manslaughter is a first-degree felony

Intoxication manslaughter is a second-degree felony "except as provided by Section 49.09" (Penal Code 49.08(b)). Before September 1, 2025, Penal Code 49.09(b-2) already made intoxication manslaughter a first-degree felony when the person caused the death of a person described by Subsection (b-1). Two acts of the 89th Legislature each kept that trigger and added a second one, with different text, and the Legislature's code prints both versions of the subsection under separate headings. Both took effect September 1, 2025, and the new triggers apply only to offenses committed on or after that date.

Version enacted by S.B. 745 (Acts 2025, Ch. 307, signed May 30, 2025):

"(b-2) An offense under Section 49.08 is a felony of the first degree if it is shown on the trial of the offense that the person caused the death of: (1) a person described by Subsection (b-1); or (2) more than one person during the same criminal transaction."

Version enacted by H.B. 2017, cited as Grayson's Law (Acts 2025, Ch. 939, signed June 20, 2025):

"(b-2) An offense under Section 49.08 is a felony of the first degree if it is shown on the trial of the offense that the person: (1) caused the death of a person described by Subsection (b-1); or (2) has previously been convicted of an offense relating to the operating of a motor vehicle while intoxicated, operating an aircraft while intoxicated, operating a watercraft while intoxicated, or operating or assembling an amusement ride while intoxicated, and at the time of the commission of the instant offense was in violation of Chapter 51."

The two versions share the first trigger. Subsection (b-1) describes a firefighter or emergency medical services personnel, and a peace officer or judge, in each case "while in the actual discharge of an official duty." The second triggers differ: S.B. 745 adds the death of more than one person during the same criminal transaction, and H.B. 2017 adds the prior-conviction trigger. Penal Code Chapter 51, which the H.B. 2017 version references, is titled "Illegal Entry Into This State"; it was added by S.B. 4 of the 88th Legislature's fourth called session (2023), and its Section 51.02 makes it an offense for an alien to enter or attempt to enter Texas directly from a foreign nation at a location other than a lawful port of entry. How the two printed versions of (b-2) are applied together is a question for a lawyer licensed in Texas.

A first-degree intoxication manslaughter conviction carries the Penal Code 12.32 range: life or 5 to 99 years and a fine up to $10,000.

An intoxication manslaughter conviction generally also suspends the person's driver's license for a period the court sets of 180 days to two years, or one to two years for a second or subsequent intoxication manslaughter offense committed within 10 years of the most recent preceding one (Transportation Code 521.344(b)). Code of Criminal Procedure article 42.0375 requires the court to order a person convicted of intoxication manslaughter to pay restitution for a child whose parent or guardian was the victim, in a monthly amount until the child reaches 18 years of age or has graduated from high school, whichever is later, but not to an individual who is 19 years of age or older (article 42.0375(c)).

Parole, mandatory supervision and community supervision for the H.B. 2017 category

H.B. 2017 also added Government Code 508.145(e-1): "An inmate serving a sentence for an offense punishable under Section 49.09(b-2)(2), Penal Code, is not eligible for release on parole until the actual calendar time served, without consideration of good conduct time, equals 10 years." It added Government Code 508.147(a-1), under which such an inmate may not be released to mandatory supervision unless actual calendar time served, without consideration of good conduct time, equals at least 10 years and the inmate is otherwise eligible. And it amended Code of Criminal Procedure article 42A.059, so a defendant charged with or convicted of intoxication manslaughter punishable under Penal Code 49.09(b-2)(2) "is not eligible for community supervision, including deferred adjudication community supervision."

Related driving offenses

• Intoxication assault (Penal Code 49.07), the non-fatal counterpart involving serious bodily injury, is a third-degree felony except as provided by 49.09.
• A prior intoxication manslaughter conviction makes a later driving while intoxicated or other listed Chapter 49 offense a third-degree felony (Penal Code 49.09(b)(1)).
• Leaving the scene of a collision resulting in the death of a person is a separate second-degree felony under Transportation Code 550.021(c)(1)(A); see our page on Texas hit-and-run laws.

For DWI penalties when no one is killed, see Texas DUI laws.

Deaths of unborn children

Texas homicide law reaches the death of an unborn child. Penal Code 1.07(a)(26) defines "individual" as "a human being who is alive, including an unborn child at every stage of gestation from fertilization until birth," and 1.07(a)(49) provides that "death" includes, for an unborn child, "the failure to be born alive."

Penal Code 19.06 provides that Chapter 19 does not apply to the death of an unborn child if the conduct charged is:

• conduct committed by the mother of the unborn child;
• a lawful medical procedure performed by a physician or other licensed health care provider with the requisite consent, if the death of the unborn child was the intended result of the procedure;
• a lawful medical procedure performed with the requisite consent as part of an assisted reproduction as defined by Family Code 160.102; or
• the dispensation of a drug in accordance with law or administration of a drug prescribed in accordance with law.

Intoxication manslaughter has its own, narrower rule. Penal Code 49.12 provides that Sections 49.07 and 49.08 "do not apply to injury to or the death of an unborn child if the conduct charged is conduct committed by the mother of the unborn child."

Other offenses graded by a death

Some Texas offenses outside Chapters 19 and 49 carry a higher grade when a death results:

• A dog owner's offense under Health and Safety Code 822.005 is a second-degree felony when the attack causes death (822.005(b)).
• A hazing offense under Education Code 37.152, other than failing to report, that causes the death of another is a state jail felony (37.152(e)).
• Aiding suicide is a state jail felony when the actor's conduct causes suicide or an attempted suicide that results in serious bodily injury (Penal Code 22.08(b)).

Drug-induced deaths are graded as murder

Texas does not treat a fentanyl or other drug-delivery death as manslaughter. Since a 2023 act (H.B. 6), Penal Code 19.02(b)(4) makes it murder to knowingly manufacture or deliver a Penalty Group 1-B controlled substance in violation of Health and Safety Code 481.1123 when an individual dies as a result of using any amount of it. Murder sentencing is outside this page; see our overview of murder sentencing guidelines.

Probation and parole for manslaughter in Texas

Judge-ordered community supervision. Code of Criminal Procedure article 42A.054(a) lists the offenses for which a judge may not order community supervision. Manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and intoxication manslaughter are not on that list. Other limits still apply:

• Under article 42A.053(c), a defendant "is not eligible for community supervision under this article if the defendant is sentenced to serve" a term of imprisonment that exceeds 10 years (or a term of confinement under Penal Code 12.35).
• Under article 42A.054(b), judge-ordered community supervision does not apply when it is shown that a deadly weapon was used or exhibited during the commission of a felony or immediate flight from it, and the defendant used or exhibited it or was a party who knew it would be used or exhibited.
• Under article 42A.059, as amended by H.B. 2017 effective September 1, 2025, a defendant charged with or convicted of intoxication manslaughter punishable under Penal Code 49.09(b-2)(2) is not eligible for community supervision, including deferred adjudication community supervision.

Vehicles as deadly weapons. Penal Code 1.07(a)(17)(B) defines a deadly weapon to include "anything that in the manner of its use or intended use is capable of causing death or serious bodily injury." In Tyra v. State, 897 S.W.2d 796 (Tex. Crim. App. 1995), an intoxicated-driving death prosecuted under the former involuntary manslaughter statute, the Court of Criminal Appeals wrote that "driving it in a manner capable of causing death or serious bodily injury constitutes it a deadly weapon," and affirmed the judgment that included the jury's deadly-weapon finding. A deadly-weapon finding in a vehicle death case can bring in the article 42A.054(b) limit, the parole rule in Government Code 508.145(d) and, for criminally negligent homicide, third-degree punishment under Penal Code 12.35(c).

Required confinement as a condition. A judge granting community supervision to a defendant convicted of intoxication manslaughter must require "a term of confinement of not less than 120 days" as a condition (article 42A.401(a)(5)). Article 42A.516 sets the same 120-day condition for leaving the scene of a collision resulting in death under Transportation Code 550.021(c)(1)(A).

Jury-recommended community supervision. Under article 42A.055, a jury that imposes confinement may recommend community supervision, and the judge "shall" follow the recommendation. A defendant is eligible only if, among other conditions, the defendant files a written sworn motion before trial stating that the defendant has not previously been convicted of a felony in Texas or any other state.

Parole eligibility. Under Government Code 508.145(f), an inmate generally becomes eligible for parole when actual calendar time served plus good conduct time equals one-fourth of the sentence or 15 years, whichever is less. For an inmate whose judgment contains an affirmative finding under Code of Criminal Procedure article 42A.054(c) or (d), section 508.145(d) delays eligibility until actual calendar time served, without good conduct time, equals one-half of the sentence or 30 calendar years, whichever is less, and never less than two calendar years. The 10-year rule for the H.B. 2017 intoxication manslaughter category is described above.

Recent changes to Texas manslaughter law

• 2023, S.B. 947 (88th Legislature, Ch. 1146), effective September 1, 2023: added the first-degree form of manslaughter in Penal Code 19.04(b) for a death caused by a Section 28.09 critical-infrastructure offense, and added Section 28.09.
• 2023, H.B. 6 (88th Legislature, Ch. 910), effective September 1, 2023: added Penal Code 19.02(b)(4), grading certain Penalty Group 1-B drug-delivery deaths as murder.
• 2023, H.B. 393 (88th Legislature, Ch. 305), effective September 1, 2023: added Code of Criminal Procedure article 42.0375, requiring the court to order a person convicted of intoxication manslaughter to pay restitution for a child whose parent or guardian was the victim, monthly until the child reaches 18 years of age or has graduated from high school, whichever is later, but not to an individual who is 19 years of age or older (article 42.0375(c)).
• 2025, S.B. 745 (89th Legislature, Ch. 307), effective September 1, 2025: amended Penal Code 49.09(b-2), which already covered causing the death of a (b-1) person, to add a first-degree trigger for causing the death of more than one person during the same criminal transaction. It applies to offenses committed on or after that date.
• 2025, H.B. 2017, Grayson's Law (89th Legislature, Ch. 939), effective September 1, 2025: separately amended Penal Code 49.09(b-2), adding the prior-conviction and Chapter 51 trigger; added the 10-year parole rule in Government Code 508.145(e-1) and the 10-year mandatory supervision rule in Government Code 508.147(a-1); and amended Code of Criminal Procedure article 42A.059 to bar community supervision, including deferred adjudication, for that category. It applies to offenses committed on or after that date.

Federal law

Federal law defines voluntary and involuntary manslaughter separately in 18 U.S.C. 1112 and, within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, sets maximum prison terms of 15 years for voluntary and 8 years for involuntary manslaughter; the manslaughter hub covers the federal layer.

Related Texas pages

• Manslaughter laws by state
• Texas felony and misdemeanor classes
• Texas DUI laws
• Texas hit-and-run laws
• Texas self-defense laws
• Murder, homicide and manslaughter: the differences

This article provides general legal information about Texas law as of 2026-10-17. It is not legal advice. For a specific situation, contact a lawyer licensed in Texas.

Last updated: 2026-10-17.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is manslaughter a felony in Texas?

Yes. Manslaughter is a second-degree felony (Penal Code 19.04(b)), criminally negligent homicide is a state jail felony (19.05(b)), and intoxication manslaughter is a second-degree felony unless Penal Code 49.09 raises it (49.08(b)). None of the three has a misdemeanor grade.

How many years is manslaughter in Texas?

Manslaughter carries 2 to 20 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000 (Penal Code 12.33). It is a first-degree felony, life or 5 to 99 years, only when the death was caused by conduct that was also a critical-infrastructure offense under Penal Code 28.09. Penal Code 12.42 can raise the range when prior felony convictions are shown.

Does Texas have voluntary and involuntary manslaughter?

No. Texas manslaughter is recklessly causing a death (Penal Code 19.04), and criminally negligent homicide (19.05) covers deaths caused by criminal negligence. Sudden passion from an adequate cause is a punishment-stage issue in a murder trial that, if proved, makes the murder a second-degree felony (19.02(d)).

What is intoxication manslaughter in Texas?

Under Penal Code 49.08, it is operating a motor vehicle in a public place, an aircraft, a watercraft or an amusement ride while intoxicated and, by reason of that intoxication, causing the death of another by accident or mistake. It is a second-degree felony, 2 to 20 years, and first degree in the situations listed in Penal Code 49.09(b-2).

When is intoxication manslaughter a first-degree felony in Texas?

Penal Code 49.09(b-2) makes it first degree when the person caused the death of a peace officer, judge, firefighter or emergency medical services worker in the actual discharge of an official duty, a trigger already in the law before 2025. For offenses on or after September 1, 2025, the subsection has two printed versions that each add a trigger: S.B. 745 adds deaths of more than one person in the same criminal transaction, and H.B. 2017 adds a listed prior intoxication conviction combined with a violation of Penal Code Chapter 51.

What is the difference between manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in Texas?

Manslaughter requires recklessness: being aware of and consciously disregarding a substantial and unjustifiable risk. Criminally negligent homicide requires only that the person ought to have been aware of the risk (Penal Code 6.03(c), (d)).

Can you get probation for manslaughter in Texas?

Manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and intoxication manslaughter are not on the article 42A.054(a) list that bars judge-ordered community supervision. A judge cannot order it if the sentence exceeds 10 years or a deadly weapon was used or exhibited as article 42A.054(b) describes, and a jury may recommend it only for a defendant who files a sworn motion of no prior felony conviction, among other conditions (article 42A.055). Intoxication manslaughter punishable under Penal Code 49.09(b-2)(2) is barred from any community supervision, including deferred adjudication (article 42A.059), and a judge who grants community supervision for intoxication manslaughter must require at least 120 days of confinement as a condition (article 42A.401(a)(5)).

Is a drug overdose death manslaughter in Texas?

Knowingly manufacturing or delivering a Penalty Group 1-B controlled substance in violation of Health and Safety Code 481.1123, when an individual dies as a result of using it, is graded as murder under Penal Code 19.02(b)(4), not manslaughter.