Texas Penal Code Section 8.01 Insanity

From 1974 to 1983, Texas Penal Code 8.01(a) provided that "it is an affirmative defense to prosecution that, at the time of the conduct charged, the actor, as a result of mental disease or defect, either did not know that his conduct was wrong or was incapable of conforming his conduct to the requirements of the law he allegedly violated." In Torres v. State, 585 S.W.2d 746, 749 (Tex.Crim.App. 1979), the Court held that the defense of insanity due to involuntary intoxication was "implicit" in the language of 8.01(a). In other words, the Court held that, under 8.01(a), it was an affirmative defense to prosecution that, at the time of the alleged offense, the defendant, as a result of a mental defect caused by involuntary intoxication, either did not know that his conduct was wrong or was incapable of conforming his conduct to the requirements of the law he allegedly violated. The Court further held that, for the purposes of 8.01(a), intoxication was "involuntary" if the defendant "exercised no independent judgment or volition in taking the intoxicant." Ibid.