T.P.I. -- CRIM. 6.04

VEHICULAR ASSAULT

            Any person who commits the offense of vehicular assault is guilty of a crime.

            For you to find the defendant guilty of this offense, the state must have proven beyond a reasonable doubt the existence of the following essential elements:¹

            (1)  that the defendant caused serious bodily injury to the alleged victim

                   by the operation of a motor vehicle;

and

            (2)  that the serious bodily injury was the proximate result of the driver's

                   intoxication;

and

            (3)  that the defendant acted recklessly.

            "Intoxication" is defined as acting under the influence of any intoxicant, marijuana, narcotic drug or drug producing stimulating effects on the central nervous system or under the influence of alcohol.²

            The expression "under the influence of an intoxicant or narcotic drug" covers not only all the well known and easily recognized conditions and degrees of intoxication, but also any mental or physical condition which is the result of taking intoxicants or drugs in any form and which deprives one of that clearness of mind and control of oneself which one would otherwise possess.  In this situation, it is not necessary that the person be in such a condition as would make [him] [her] guilty of public drunkenness.  The law merely requires that the person be under the influence of an intoxicant or drug.

                        "Proximate result" is defined to mean a result, which in natural and continuous sequence, is a product of an act occurring or concurring with another, which, had it not happened, the result would not have occurred.

            "Serious bodily injury" means bodily injury which involves a substantial risk of death; protracted unconsciousness; extreme physical pain; protracted or

obvious disfigurement; or protracted loss or substantial impairment of a function of a bodily member, organ, or mental faculty.³

            "Recklessly" means that a person acts recklessly with respect to circumstances surrounding the conduct or the result of the conduct when the person 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 accused person's standpoint.⁴

            The requirement of "recklessly" is also established if it is shown that the defendant acted knowingly or intentionally.⁵

            "Knowingly" means that a person acts knowingly with respect to the conduct or to circumstances surrounding the conduct when the person is aware of the nature of the conduct or that the circumstances exist.  A person acts knowingly with respect to a result of the person's conduct when the person is aware that the conduct is reasonably certain to cause the result.⁶

            "Intentionally" means that a person acts intentionally with respect to the nature of the conduct or to a result of the conduct when it is the person's conscious objective or desire to engage in the conduct or cause the result.⁷

            If recklessness establishes an element of an offense and the person is unaware of the risk because of voluntary intoxication, the person's unawareness is immaterial in a prosecution for that offense.⁸   Voluntary intoxication means intoxication caused by a substance that the person knowingly introduced into the person's body, the tendency of which to cause intoxication was known or ought to have been known.⁹   

FOOTNOTES

  1.  Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-106(a).

  2.  Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-10-401(a).  For a further definition of "drugs", see

       Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-10-401(b).

  3.  Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-11-106(a)(33).  Some trial judges are of the opinion

       that the definition of "bodily injury", Tenn. Code Ann.  § 39-11-106(a)(2),

       should be given in connection with the definition of "serious bodily injury".

  4.  Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-11-106(a)(31).

  5.  Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-11-301(a)(2).

  6.  Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-11-106(a)(20).

  7.  Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-11-106(a)(18).

  8.   Tenn. Code Ann.  § 39-11-503(b).

  9.  Tenn. Code Ann.  § 39-11-503(d)(3).

COMMENT

            1.  Vehicular assault is a Class D felony.  Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-106(b).

            2.   A violation of Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-15-401, child abuse and neglect, may be a lesser included offense of vehicular assault.  Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-15-401(d).