Comment

Capital murder as defined in Tex. Penal Code § 19.03 can be committed in multiple ways. The Committee has drafted instructions for six of the ways most commonly charged in Texas practice.

All capital murders—with the exception of murders committed in the course of committing certain specified offenses—must be based upon an intentional or knowing killing of an individual, as section 19.03(a) requires proof that the accused committed murder as defined in section 19.02(b)(1). The provision for capital murder committed in the course of committing certain offenses specified in section 19.03(a)(2) requires proof that the accused killed an individual intentionally.

Section 19.03(a)(2) is often assumed to require the causing of death in connection with the commission of, or attempt to commit, a felony. However, in some limited situations, the offense the defendant must be proved to have been committing or attempting to commit can be a misdemeanor. See Tex. Penal Code § 22.07(b), (d) (providing that certain terroristic threat offenses are misdemeanors). Therefore, capital murder under section 19.03(a)(2) is referred to in this chapter as murder in the course of committing a specified offense.