There are three general approaches to criminal defense regularly utilized by defense lawyers in Texas. The first involves securing the dismissal of charges based on technical issues. Illegal searches might lead to a lawyer using technical rules to keep their client out of court.
The second common defense strategy involves raising a reasonable doubt. Alibis placing someone in a different location at the time of a crime or forensic evidence implicating a third party can go a long way toward raising questions about whether someone actually broke the law. The third type of defense strategy involves an affirmative defense.
What is an affirmative defense?
Instead of questioning whether a crime occurred or who committed the crime, the focus of an affirmative defense is on the details of the situation. The defendant’s lawyer acknowledges that they may have done something that looks illegal.
However, they assert that circumstances make the actions legal. Self-defense claims are one type of affirmative defense. Strategies that make arguments about mental health challenges are also affirmative defenses. Can a Texas defendant mount an affirmative defense on the basis of chemical intoxication at the time of an incident?
The law addresses this exact scenario
Texas state statutes explicitly acknowledge certain types of affirmative defenses. The law extends robust protections to those who act in self-defense, for example. There are also certain types of affirmative defenses that the law specifically prohibits.
Claims of diminished capacity based on intoxication are generally not viable defense strategies in Texas. Voluntary intoxication does not diminish someone’s culpability for their actions. It also does not prevent the prosecutor from establishing that they had criminal intent.
People who choose to consume alcohol or other mind-altering substances have to accept the consequences of how they behave while under the influence. While intoxication does not provide grounds for a strong defense strategy on its own, mental health issues that lead to substance abuse possibly could.
Developing a criminal case on the basis of mental incapacity due to a diagnosable mental health condition is one potential defense strategy. There could be other approaches that may also work depending on the charges at issue and the evidence gathered by the state. Discussing prior mental health treatment and diagnoses with a lawyer can help defendants explore each of their potential defense options.