texas murder suicide
Intentionally assisting a suicidal person
<p>Bob posts on an anonymous online board that he wants to kill himself.</p>
<p>Alice reads his post. She visits Bob's home and hands him a gun. However, Alice warns Bob not to use the gun to kill himself. He does it anyway.</p>
<p>Is Alice guilty for Bob's death?</p>

<p>Intent matters here, but yes. Alice could be considered guilty of either Second-Degree Murder or Manslaughter, though the latter is far more likely.</p>
<p>Texas has no laws condoning assisted suicide that could absolve Alice.</p>
<p>Second-degree murder requires the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>The defendant intentionally and knowingly caused the death of another person</li>
<li>The defendant intended to cause serious bodily injury and committed an act that was clearly dangerous to human life and this act caused the death of an individual</li>
</ul>
<p>This is tenuous, but it could be argued this way if Alice intended to cause Bob's death. It certainly meets the second criteria: shooting oneself constitutes serious harm and giving a firearm to someone who has stated an intent to kill themself is reckless.</p>
<p>It's more likely that Alice would be charged with manslaughter. The only definition is:</p>
<ul>
<li>A person commits an offense if he recklessly causes the death of an
individual.</li>
</ul>
<p>As discussed above, giving someone who has announced an intent to kill themself a loaded gun is reckless. Alice's actions resulted in Bob's death.</p>
