Can someone please verify this once and for all...

[Qwickdraw]

Is attempted suicide a criminal offense in TX?

If it is, then the PC already ruled out attempted suicide as a possibility and you can rest easy.

[Stautner]

Is attempted suicide a criminal offense in TX?

If it is, then the PC already ruled out attempted suicide as a possibility and you can rest easy.

This is an oversimplification. I'm not sure whether attempted suicide is a criminal offense in Texas or not, but I'm pretty certain it isn't enforced if it is. Just because the PC isn't persuing it doesn't tell us much.

[TonyS]

Is attempted suicide a criminal offense in TX?

If it is, then the PC already ruled out attempted suicide as a possibility and you can rest easy.


Quick:

Its not as simple as you state. If the attempted suicide was brought about by a chemical change in someone's personality (temporary insanity) due to a reaction with a drug, then even if they attempted suicide, it isn't usually considered a criminal offense.

My wife tried jumping out of a 10 story window, but only did so because she was temporarily insane due to a manic state and antipsychotic drugs prescribed incorrectly.

So, while she did attempt suicide...and also tried to beat the crap out of a nurse...she was never charged for these things.

[Qwickdraw]

Quick:

Its not as simple as you state. If the attempted suicide was brought about by a chemical change in someone's personality (temporary insanity) due to a reaction with a drug, then even if they attempted suicide, it isn't usually considered a criminal offense.

My wife tried jumping out of a 10 story window, but only did so because she was temporarily insane due to a manic state and antipsychotic drugs prescribed incorrectly.

So, while she did attempt suicide...and also tried to beat the crap out of a nurse...she was never charged for these things.
I understand that and appreciate your personal example.
I hope things for you and yours have gotten better.

But I was just wondering if it is investigated as a criminal offense, not charged.

I am convinced that this was never a suicide attempt as I have been since the beginning of this report. I am just trying to confirm it since the police spokesman was too vague to do so.

[cobra]

I stated in the other thread that I remember some discussion from law school about how suicide is evaluated under the murder statute. I wanted to refresh my memory, so this is what I posted in the other thread:

After looking over my O'Connor's Criminal Codes, I see that 22.08 of the Texas Penal Code makes aiding suicide a state jail felony.

There is nothing in the Texas Penal Code itself about suicide. As I said earlier, my memory retains a vestigial memory of Prof. Palacios telling us about murder which is 19.02 of the Texas Penal Code and commenting that suicide is analyzed under that statute, thus rendering a specific suicide statute superfluous. Murder is defined as "intentionally or knowingly causing the death of an individual; intending to cause serious bodily injury and commits an act clearly dangers to human life that causes death of an individuals; or causes the death of an individual during the commission of a felony."

I did a Westlaw search to refresh my memory. I read a few cases, including Wilson v. Brister, in which it appears my memory was remembering just enough to get me into trouble. Suicide is considered a common law crime to the extent it does violate the common law definition of murder. In Texas, suicide is not considered a violation of the Penal code. However, in other respects, it is considered "illegal." This a silly legal distinction that comes into play in a scenario such as where a surviving family sues a medical provider for not diagnosing suicidal tendencies. In that situation, the act of suicide is considered a common law crime that eliminates the causal connection.

So, after refreshing my memory, my initial distinction is probably not correct. It appears clear to me from reading the code and case, suicide is not considered by the police to be a crime, but assisting suicide is. Thus, the police would inquire into the situation to determine if anyone was assisting him, and if he is not, they would end their investigation as there would not be a criminal issue. The only other thing they would be interested in is whether the drugs were legally acquired. My guess is they satisfied those two inquiries and concluded there was not a crime at issue.

[Chocolate Lab]

Just wanted to say thanks very much for your expertise and effort in researching all this, Cobra.

[cobra]

Just wanted to say thanks very much for your expertise and effort in researching all this, Cobra.

No problem. I felt bad about making a comment by relying on a memory from law school, so I wanted to look it up because I didn't want to give bad info. I have every sort of law book here in my office and a westlaw account, so its easy for me to look it up. I figure, since it is easier for me to do the research, I had some obligation to make sure what I said earlier was accurate.

So, again, I think the police's inquiry went as follows:
(1) Was this a suicide attempt or other self-inflicted accident?
(2) Is there any evidence that someone was aiding Owens to attempt suicide if it was a suicide?
(3) Were the drugs at issue legally acquired?

Once they answered the first question as yes, the second no, and the third yes, there was nothing further for the police to investigate in this issue because there would be no criminal issues from those facts.