Penal Code Flashcards
A bodily movement whether voluntary or involuntary, and includes speech.
Act
A person whose criminal responsibility is in issue in a criminal action. Suspect.
Actor
Includes authority, board, bureau, commission, committee, council, department, district, division, and office.
Agency
Alcohol, or any beverage containing more than one-half of one percent of alcohol by volume, which is capable of use for beverage purposes, either alone or when diluted.
Alcoholic Beverage
A person other than the actor.
Another
A government or governmental subdivision or agency, trust, partnership, or two or more persons having a joint or common economic interest.
Association
Anything reasonably regarded as economic gain or advantage, including benefit to any other person in whose welfare the beneficiary is interested.
Benefit
Physical pain, illness, or any impairment of physical condition.
Bodily Injury
A threat, however communicated:
- to commit an offense
- to inflict bodily injury in the future on the person threatened or another
- to accuse a person of any offense
- to expose a person to hatred, contempt, or ridicule
- to harm the credit or business repute of any person
- to take or withhold action as a public servant, or to cause a public servant to take or withhold action.
Coercion
An act or omission and its accompanying mental state.
Conduct
Assent in fact, whether express or apparent.
Consent
A substance, including a drug, an adulterant, and a dilutant, listed in Schedules I through V or Penalty Groups 1, 1-A, or 2 through 4.
Controlled Substance
Includes nonprofit corporations, professional associations created pursuant to statute, and joint stock companies.
Corporation
A designated by law for the confinement of a person arrested for, charged with, or convicted of a criminal offense.
Correctional Facility
A device or a drug that is unsafe for self-medication and that is not included in Schedules I through V or Penalty Groups 1 through 4 of Chapter 481 (Texas Controlled Substances Act).
Dangerous Dug
A firearm or anything manifestly designed, made, or adapted for the purpose of inflicting death or serious bodily injury; or anything that in the manner of its use or intended use is capable of causing death or serious bodily injury.
Deadly Weapon
A substance, other than a device or a component, part, or accessory of a device, that is:
(A) recognized as a drug in the official United States Pharmacopoeia, official Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States, official National Formulary, or a supplement to either pharmacopoeia or the formulary;
(B) intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease in man or animals;
(C) intended to affect the structure or function of the body of man or animals but is not food; or
(D) intended for use as a component of a substance described by Paragraph (A), (B), or (C).
Drug
Includes consent by a person legally authorized to act for the owner.
Effective Consent
A facility that generates electric energy for distribution to the public.
Electric Generating Plant
A facility used to switch or change voltage in connection with the transmission of electric energy for distribution to the public.
Electric Utility Substation
(A) the forbidden conduct;
(B) the required culpability;
(C) any required result; and
(D) the negation of any exception to the offense.
Elements of Offense
An offense so designated by law or punishable by death or confinement in a penitentiary.
Felony
(A) the state;
(B) a county, municipality, or political subdivision of the state; or
(C) any branch or agency of the state, a county, municipality, or political subdivision.
Government
Anything reasonably regarded as loss, disadvantage, or injury, including harm to another person in whose welfare the person affected is interested.
Harm
A human being who is alive, including an unborn child at every stage of gestation from fertilization until birth.
Individual
The constitution or a statute of this state or of the United States, a written opinion of a court of record, a municipal ordinance, an order of a county commissioners court, or a rule authorized by and lawfully adopted under a statute.
Law
An offense so designated by law or punishable by fine, by confinement in jail, or by both fine and confinement in jail.
Misdemeanor
Includes affirmation.
Oath
Any type of administrative, executive, legislative, or judicial proceeding that may be conducted before a public servant.
Official Proceeding
Failure to act.
Omission
A person who:
(A) has title to the property, possession of the property, whether lawful or not, or a greater right to possession of the property than the actor; or
(B) is a holder in due course of a negotiable instrument.
Owner
A person elected, employed, or appointed as a peace officer under Article 2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, Section 51.212 or 51.214, Education Code, or other law.
Peace Officer
A place designated by law for confinement of persons arrested for, charged with, or convicted of an offense.
Penal Institution
An individual, corporation, or association.
Person
Actual care, custody, control, or management.
Possession
Any place to which the public or a substantial group of the public has access and includes, but is not limited to, streets, highways, and the common areas of schools, hospitals, apartment houses, office buildings, transport facilities, and shops.
Public Place
A person elected, selected, appointed, employed, or otherwise designated as one of the following, even if he has not yet qualified for office or assumed his duties:
(A) an officer, employee, or agent of government;
(B) a juror or grand juror; or
(C) an arbitrator, referee, or other person who is authorized by law or private written agreement to hear or determine a cause or controversy; or
(D) an attorney at law or notary public when participating in the performance of a governmental function; or
(E) a candidate for nomination or election to public office; or
(F) a person who is performing a governmental function under a claim of right although he is not legally qualified to do so.
Public Servant
A belief that would be held by an ordinary and prudent man in the same circumstances as the actor.
Reasonable Belief
Includes regulation.
Rule
(A) a municipal or county jail; or
(B) a confinement facility operated by or under a contract with any division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Secure Correctional Facility
Bodily injury that creates a substantial risk of death or that causes death, serious permanent disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ.
Serious Bodily Injury
A written or electronic instruction to pay money that is authorized by the person giving the instruction and that is payable on demand or at a definite time by the person being instructed to pay. The term includes a check, an electronic debit, or an automatic bank draft.
Sight Order
Includes affirm.
Swear
Criminal or tortious or both and includes what would be criminal or tortious but for a defense not amounting to justification or privilege.
Unlawful
Includes, for an individual who is an unborn child, the failure to be born alive.
Death
It is his conscious objective or desire to engage in the conduct or cause the result.
Intentionally or with intent
He is aware of the nature of his conduct or that the circumstances exist and that his conduct is reasonably certain to cause the result.
Knowingly or with knowledge
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.
Recklessly, or is reckless
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.
Criminal Negligence or is criminally negligent
A person commits an offense only if he ________ engages in conduct, including an act, an omission, or possession.
voluntarily
The highest degree culpable mental state:
Intentionally
Culpable mental states from highest to lowest:
Intentional
Knowing
Reckless
Criminal Negligence
Causation is made of:
Conduct and Results
All traditional distinctions between accomplices and principals are abolished by the section:
Parties to Offenses
It is an affirmative defense to prosecution that, at the time of the conduct charged, the actor, as a result of severe mental disease or defect, did not know that his conduct was wrong.
Insanity
It is a defense to prosecution that the actor through mistake formed a reasonable belief about a matter of fact if his mistaken belief negated the kind of culpability required for commission of the offense.
Mistake of Fact
It is no defense to prosecution that the actor was ignorant of the provisions of any law after the law has taken effect.
Mistake of Law
Voluntary intoxication does not constitute a defense to the commission of crime.
Intoxication
It is an affirmative defense to prosecution that the actor engaged in the proscribed conduct because he was compelled to do so by threat of imminent death or serious bodily injury to himself or another.
Duress
It is a defense to prosecution that the actor engaged in the conduct charged because he was induced to do so by a law enforcement agent using persuasion or other means likely to cause persons to commit the offense.
Entrapment
An affirmative defense to prosecution is:
Duress
It is no defense to prosecution:
Mistake of Law, Intoxication
No person may, in any case, be punished by death for an offense committed while the person was younger than:
18 years of age
A person may not be prosecuted for or convicted of any offense that the person committed when _______ years of age except:
perjury, aggravated perjury
younger than 15
Any term of not more than 20 years or less than 2 years. A fine not to exceed $10,000.
Second Degree Felony
Any term of not more than two years or less than 180 days. A fine not to exceed $10,000.
State Jail Felony
Types of criminal homicide:
Capital Murder, Murder, Manslaughter, Criminally Negligent Homicide.
Intentionally or knowingly causes the death of an individual. Felony of the first degree.
Murder
(1) the person murders a peace officer or fireman who is acting in the lawful discharge of an official duty and who the person knows is a peace officer or fireman;
(2) the person intentionally commits the murder in the course of committing or attempting to commit kidnapping, burglary, robbery, aggravated sexual assault, arson, obstruction or retaliation, or terroristic threat under Section 22.07(a)(1), (3), (4), (5), or (6);
(3) the person commits the murder for remuneration or the promise of remuneration or employs another to commit the murder for remuneration or the promise of remuneration;
(4) the person commits the murder while escaping or attempting to escape from a penal institution;
(5) the person, while incarcerated in a penal institution, murders another:
(A) who is employed in the operation of the penal institution; or
(B) with the intent to establish, maintain, or participate in a combination or in the profits of a combination;
(6) the person:
(A) while incarcerated for an offense under this section or Section 19.02, murders another; or
(B) while serving a sentence of life imprisonment or a term of 99 years for an offense under Section 20.04, 22.021, or 29.03, murders another;
(7) the person murders more than one person:
(A) during the same criminal transaction; or
(B) during different criminal transactions but the murders are committed pursuant to the same scheme or course of conduct;
(8) the person murders an individual under 10 years of age; or
(9) the person murders another person in retaliation for or on account of the service or status of the other person as a judge or justice of the supreme court, the court of criminal appeals, a court of appeals, a district court, a criminal district court, a constitutional county court, a statutory county court, a justice court, or a municipal court.
(b) An offense under this section is a capital felony.
Capital Murder
Recklessly causes the death of an individual. Felony of the second degree.
Manslaughter
Causes the death of an individual by criminal negligence. State Jail Felony.
Criminal Negligent Homocide
With intent that a felony be committed, he agrees with one or more persons that they or one or more of them engage in conduct that would constitute the offense.
Criminal Conspiracy
Intentionally or knowingly abducts another person. THIRD DEGREE FELONY
Kidnapping
Intentionally uses a motor vehicle, aircraft, or watercraft to transport an individual with intent to conceal the individual from a peace officer or special investigator; or flee from a person the actor knows is a peace officer or special investigator attempting to lawfully arrest or detain the actor. STATE JAIL FELONY.
If the offense is committed for pecuniary benefit, or in a manner that creates a substantial risk that the transported individual will suffer serious bodily injury or death, it becomes a THIRD DEGREE FELONY.
Smuggling of Persons
During a period of 30 or more days, actor commits two or more acts of sexual abuse against one or more victims. At the time of the offense, the victim is a child younger than 14 years of age. FIRST DEGREE FELONY.
Continuous Sexual Abuse of Young Child or Children
Actor knowingly engages in any of the following acts in a public place or, if not in a public place, he is reckless about whether another is present who will be offended or alarmed by his:
(1) act of sexual intercourse;
(2) act of deviate sexual intercourse;
(3) act of sexual contact; or
(4) act involving contact between the person’s mouth or genitals and the anus or genitals of an animal or fowl.
CLASS A MISDEMEANOR
Public Lewdness
Actor exposes his anus or any part of his genitals with intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person, and he is reckless about whether another is present who will be offended or alarmed by his act. CLASS B MISDEMEANOR.
Indecent Exposure
With a child younger than 17 years of age, whether the child is of the same or opposite sex, the person:
(1) engages in sexual contact with the child or causes the child to engage in sexual contact; SECOND DEGREE FELONY
or
(2) with intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person:
(A) exposes the person’s anus or any part of the person’s genitals, knowing the child is present; or
(B) causes the child to expose the child’s anus or any part of the child’s genitals. THIRD DEGREE FELONY
Indecency with a Child
An employee of a public or private primary or secondary school commits an offense if the employee:
(1) engages in sexual contact, sexual intercourse, or deviate sexual intercourse with a person who is enrolled in a public or private primary or secondary school at which the employee works; SECOND DEGREE FELONY
Improper Relationship Between Educator and Student.
(1) photographs or by videotape or other electronic means records, broadcasts, or transmits a visual image of another at a location that is not a bathroom or private dressing room:
(A) without the other person’s consent; and
(B) with intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person;
(2) photographs or by videotape or other electronic means records, broadcasts, or transmits a visual image of another at a location that is a bathroom or private dressing room:
(A) without the other person’s consent; and
(B) with intent to:
(i) invade the privacy of the other person; or
(ii) arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person; or
(3) knowing the character and content of the photograph, recording, broadcast, or transmission, promotes a photograph, recording, broadcast, or transmission described by Subdivision (1) or (2).
STATE JAIL FELONY.
Improper Photography or Visual Recording
Sexual penetration by force or without the effective consent. SECOND DEGREE FELONY.
If the victim was a person whom the actor was prohibited from marrying or purporting to marry or with whom the actor was prohibited from living under the appearance of being married under Bigamy, the offense becomes a FIRST DEGREE FELONY.
Sexual Assault
Actor having custody, care, or control of a child younger than 15 years, he intentionally abandons the child in any place under circumstances that expose the child to an unreasonable risk of harm.
(c) A person commits an offense if he intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, or with criminal negligence, by act or omission, engages in conduct that places a child younger than 15 years in imminent danger of death, bodily injury, or physical or mental impairment.
(1) a STATE JAIL FELONY if the actor abandoned the child with intent to return for the child; or
(2) a THIRD DEGREE FELONY if the actor abandoned the child without intent to return for the child.
(e) An offense under Subsection (b) is a SECOND DEGREE FELONY if the actor abandons the child under circumstances that a reasonable person would believe would place the child in imminent danger of death, bodily injury, or physical or mental impairment.
(f) An offense under Subsection (c) is a STATE JAIL FELONY.
Abandoning or Endangering Child.
To leave a child in any place without providing reasonable and necessary care for the child, under circumstances under which no reasonable, similarly situated adult would leave a child of that age and ability.
Abandon
Actor intentionally or knowingly leaves a child in a motor vehicle for longer than five minutes, knowing that the child is:
(1) younger than seven years of age; and
(2) not attended by an individual in the vehicle who is 14 years of age or older. CLASS C MISDEMEANOR.
Leaving a Child in a Vehicle
Actor is legally married and he:
(A) purports to marry or does marry a person other than his spouse in this state, or any other state or foreign country, under circumstances that would, but for the actor’s prior marriage, constitute a marriage; or
(B) lives with a person other than his spouse in this state under the appearance of being married; or
(2) he knows that a married person other than his spouse is married and he:
(A) purports to marry or does marry that person in this state, or any other state or foreign country, under circumstances that would, but for the person’s prior marriage, constitute a marriage; or
(B) lives with that person in this state under the appearance of being married. THIRD DEGREE FELONY.
If the person whom the actor marries or purports to marry or with whom the actor lives under the appearance of being married is:
(1) 17 years of age, the offense is a SECOND DEGREE FELONY
(2) 16 years of age or younger, the offense is a FIRST DEGREE FELONY.
Bigamy
The person engages in sexual intercourse or deviate sexual intercourse with another person the actor knows to be, without regard to legitimacy:
(1) the actor’s ancestor or descendant by blood or adoption; SECOND DEGREE FELONY
(2) the actor’s current or former stepchild or stepparent;
(3) the actor’s parent’s brother or sister of the whole or half blood;
(4) the actor’s brother or sister of the whole or half blood or by adoption;
(5) the children of the actor’s brother or sister of the whole or half blood or by adoption; or
(6) the son or daughter of the actor’s aunt or uncle of the whole or half blood or by adoption.
THIRD DEGREE FELONY.
Prohibited Sexual Conduct
The person takes or retains a child younger than 18 years of age:
(1) when the person knows that the person’s taking or retention violates the express terms of a judgment or order, including a temporary order, of a court disposing of the child’s custody;
(2) when the person has not been awarded custody of the child by a court of competent jurisdiction, knows that a suit for divorce or a civil suit or application for habeas corpus to dispose of the child’s custody has been filed, and takes the child out of the geographic area of the counties composing the judicial district if the court is a district court or the county if the court is a statutory county court, without the permission of the court and with the intent to deprive the court of authority over the child; or
(3) outside of the United States with the intent to deprive a person entitled to possession of or access to the child of that possession or access and without the permission of that person. STATE JAIL FELONY
Interference with Child Custody
With the intent to interfere with the lawful custody of a child younger than 18 YEARS, he knowingly entices, persuades, or takes the child from the custody of the parent or guardian or person standing in the stead of the parent or guardian of such child. CLASS B MISDEMEANOR.
Enticing a Child
A person commits an offense of arson if the person starts a fire, regardless of whether the fire continues after ignition, or causes an explosion with intent to ________. SECOND DEGREE FELONY
destroy or damage
Without the effective consent of the owner, he recklessly damages or destroys property of the owner. CLASS C MISDEMEANOR
Reckless Damage or Destruction
In the course of committing theft as defined in Chapter 31 and with intent to obtain or maintain control of the property, he:
(1) intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causes bodily injury to another; or
(2) intentionally or knowingly threatens or places another in fear of imminent bodily injury or death. SECOND DEGREE FELONY
Robbery
Robbery is a combination of:
Assault and Theft
A structure or vehicle that is
adapted for the overnight accommodation of persons, and includes:
(A) each separately secured or occupied portion
of the structure or vehicle; and
(B) each structure appurtenant to or connected with the structure or vehicle.
Habitation
Any enclosed structure intended for use or occupation as a habitation or for some purpose of trade, manufacture, ornament, or use.
Building
Includes any device in, on, or by which any person or property is or may be propelled, moved, or drawn in
the normal course of commerce or transportation, except such devices as are classified as “habitation.”
Vehicle
The person:
(1) enters a habitation, or a building (or any portion of a building) not then open to the public, with intent to commit a felony, theft, or an assault; STATE JAIL FELONY if committed in a building that is not a habitation. FIRST DEGREE if its a habitation.
Burglary
To intrude:
(1) any part of the body; or
(2) any physical object connected with the body.
Enter
He breaks or enters into any coin-operated machine, coin collection machine, or other coin-operated or coin collection receptacle, contrivance, apparatus, or equipment used for the purpose of providing lawful amusement, sales of goods, services, or other valuable things, or telecommunications with intent to obtain property or services. CLASS A MISDEMEANOR.
Burglary of Coin-Operated or Coin Collection Machines
The person enters or remains on or in property of another, including residential land, agricultural land, a recreational vehicle park, a building, or an aircraft or other vehicle, without effective consent and the person:
(1) had notice that the entry was forbidden CLASS B MISDEMEANOR; or
(2) received notice to depart but failed to do so.
CLASS A MISDEMEANOR if committed in a habitation or Shelter center or carries a deadly weapon.
CLASS C if committed on agricultural land.
Criminal Trespass
Notice for Criminal Trespass means:
(A) oral or written communication by the owner or someone with apparent authority to act for the owner;
(B) fencing or other enclosure obviously designed to exclude intruders or to contain livestock;
(C) a sign or signs posted on the property or at the entrance to the building, reasonably likely to come to the attention of intruders, indicating that entry is forbidden;
(D) the placement of identifying purple paint marks on trees or posts on the property, provided that the marks are:
(i) vertical lines of not less than eight inches in length and not less than one inch in width;
(ii) placed so that the bottom of the mark is not less than three feet from the ground or more than five feet from the ground; and
(iii) placed at locations that are readily visible to any person approaching the property and no more than:
(a) 100 feet apart on forest land; or
(b) 1,000 feet apart on land other than forest land; or
(E) the visible presence on the property of a crop grown for human consumption that is under cultivation, in the process of being harvested, or marketable if harvested at the time of entry.
Class C - Less than $50
Class B - 50 or more but less than 500
Class A - 500 or more but less than 1500
State Jail - 1500 or more but less than 20,000 or the property is stolen from a human corpse or grave. The property is a firearm.
Third Degree - 20,000 or more but less than 100,000
Second Degree - 100,000 or more but less than 200,000
First Degree - 200,000 or more.
Theft
(1) steals a trade secret;
(2) makes a copy of an article representing a trade secret;
(3) communicates or transmits a trade secret.
THIRD DEGREE FELONY
Theft of Trade Secrets
Intentionally or knowingly operates another’s boat, airplane, or motor-propelled vehicle without the effective consent of the owner. STATE JAIL FELONY
Unauthorized Use of a Vehicle
If property or service has value that cannot be reasonably ascertained by the criteria set forth, the property or service is deemed to have a value of ________________.
$500 or more but less than $1,500.
intentionally manufactures, displays, advertises, distributes, offers for sale, sells, or possesses with intent to sell or distribute a counterfeit mark or an item or service that:
(1) bears or is identified by a counterfeit mark; or
(2) the person knows or should have known bears or is identified by a counterfeit mark.
(1) Class C misdemeanor if the retail value of the item or service is less than $20;
(2) Class B misdemeanor if the retail value of the item or service is $20 or more but less than $500;
(3) Class A misdemeanor if the retail value of the item or service is $500 or more but less than $1,500;
(4) state jail felony if the retail value of the item or service is $1,500 or more but less than $20,000;
(5) felony of the third degree if the retail value of the item or service is $20,000 or more but less than $100,000;
(6) felony of the second degree if the retail value of the item or service is $100,000 or more but less than $200,000; or
(7) felony of the first degree if the retail value of the item or service is $200,000 or more.
Trademark Counterfeiting
(1) using, selling, or possessing for use or sale a false weight or measure, or any other device for falsely determining or recording any quality or quantity;
(2) selling less than the represented quantity of a property or service;
(3) taking more than the represented quantity of property or service when as a buyer the actor furnishes the weight or measure;
(4) selling an adulterated or mislabeled commodity;
(5) passing off property or service as that of another;
Deceptive Business Practice
Identifying information of another person without the other person’s consent;
STATE JAIL FELONY if less than 5 IDs
THIRD DEGREE if 5 or more but less than 10
SECOND DEGREE if 10 or more but less than 50
FIRST DEGREE if 50 or more.
Fraudulent Use or Possession Of Identifying Information
Knowingly initiates, communicates or circulates a report of a present, past, or future bombing, fire, offense, or other emergency that he knows is false or baseless and that would ordinarily:
(1) cause action by an official or volunteer agency organized to deal with emergencies;
(2) place a person in fear of imminent serious bodily injury;
(3) prevent or interrupt the occupation of a building, room, place of assembly, place to which the public has access, or aircraft, automobile, or other mode of conveyance.
CLASS A MISDEMEANOR.
Unless the false report is of an emergency involving a public or private institution of higher education or involving a public primary or secondary school, public communications, public transportation, public water, gas, or power supply or other public service, in which event the offense is a STATE JAIL FELONY.
False Alarm or Report
1) receives money or other property pursuant to an agreement to participate in the proceeds of prostitution; or
(2) solicits another to engage in sexual conduct with another person for compensation. CLASS A MISDEMEANOR.
If involving a person younger than 18 years of age engaging in prostitution it is a SECOND DEGREE FELONY
Promotion of Prostitution
THIRD DEGREE
Online Impersonation
Appears in a public place while intoxicated to the degree that the person may endanger the person or another.CLASS C MISDEMEANOR
Public Intoxication
Knowingly possesses an open container in a passenger area of a motor vehicle that is located on a public highway, regardless of whether the vehicle is being operated or is stopped or parked. CLASS C MISDEMEANOR
Possession of Alcoholic Beverage in Motor Vehicle
The person is intoxicated while operating a motor vehicle in a public place. CLASS B MISDEMEANOR
Driving While Intoxicated
(1) the person is intoxicated while operating a motor vehicle in a public place; and
(2) the vehicle being operated by the person is occupied by a passenger who is younger than 15 years of age. STATE JAIL FELONY
Driving While Intoxicated with Child Passenger
THIRD DEGREE FELONY
Intoxication Assault
SECOND DEGREE FELONY
Intoxication Manslaughter
