Bigon v. State

In Bigon v. State, 252 S.W.3d 360, 370 (Tex. Crim. App. 2008), the court noted that murder and intoxication manslaughter used to be in the same statutory section, but are not now. Id. The court declined to find that, by moving the statute, the legislature intended to create a completely separate offense for double jeopardy purposes. Id. Noting that murder and manslaughter are both considered homicides, the court concluded that the two offenses are similarly named. Id. The court also discussed the fact that in both offenses the focus is the death of an individual. Id. In the context of the focus of the two offenses, the court said that the fact that an allowable unit of prosecution for an assaultive offense, as defined by the legislature, is one unit per victim is evidence that the legislature did not intend for a person to be prosecuted for several homicides when there is only one victim. Id. at 372.