Schultz v. State

OPINION ON APPELLANT’S PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW

KELLER, Judge.

Appellant was charged with the offense of child abandonment under TEX.PEN.CODE ANN., Sec. 22.041(b).1 Evidence showed that appellant’s nine year old daughter and her eleven year old nephew died in a fire after appellant left them alone for fifteen hours. In affirming appellant’s conviction, the Court of Appeals held that the culpable mental state under Sec. 22.041(b) is “intentional” and that the mental state attaches to *2conduct rather than to circumstances surrounding conduct. Schultz v. State, 879 S.W.2d 377 (Tex.App.—…