Texas House Bill 6, in effect since September 1, 2023, allows prosecutors to charge someone with murder when fentanyl they knowingly manufactured or delivered causes another person’s death.1Texas Legislature Online. Texas Code – HB 6 – 88(R) The charge is a first-degree felony carrying 5 to 99 years or life in prison, and it can be stacked on top of the underlying drug delivery charge. HB 6 also requires death certificates to name fentanyl when toxicology and autopsy results point to it as the cause of death.
When the Murder Charge Applies
HB 6 added a new subsection to Texas Penal Code Section 19.02, the state’s murder statute. A person commits murder under this provision if they knowingly manufacture or deliver a Penalty Group 1-B substance and someone dies after injecting, ingesting, inhaling, or otherwise introducing that substance into their body.2State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 19.02 – Murder Penalty Group 1-B covers fentanyl, alpha-methylfentanyl, and any other fentanyl derivative, which is broad enough to reach the analogues clandestine labs produce to evade specific scheduling.3Texas Legislature Online. Texas Code – SB 768 – 87(R)
Read the word “knowingly” carefully. It attaches to the manufacture or delivery, not to the death. A person charged under this subsection does not have to have intended for anyone to die, or even expected it. If they knowingly handed off fentanyl and the person who received it died from using it, the elements are met. That is a sharp departure from the intent requirements that normally attach to Texas homicide prosecutions.
Before HB 6, cases like these were typically filed as delivery of a controlled substance or, in some circumstances, manslaughter. Both carry significantly shorter sentences than murder and neither signals the same gravity to a jury.
The Punishment Range
Murder is a first-degree felony in Texas. The punishment range is 5 to 99 years or life in prison, plus a possible fine of up to $10,000.4State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 12.32 – First Degree Felony Punishment A fentanyl-delivery murder sits in the same punishment range as any other first-degree murder in Texas.
What Prosecutors Have to Prove on Causation
The hardest part of a fentanyl murder case is tying the specific fentanyl the defendant delivered to the specific death. The statute requires that the person died “as a result of” using the substance “manufactured or delivered by the actor.”2State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 19.02 – Murder In practice, that means investigators have to trace the drugs from the defendant’s hands into the victim’s body through some combination of witness testimony, phone records, surveillance, and toxicology.
Mixed-substance deaths are where defense arguments live. When a victim has fentanyl plus other drugs in their system, the defense will argue that something else was the real cause. The statute addresses this directly: the death counts “regardless of whether the controlled substance was used by itself or with another substance, including a drug, adulterant, or dilutant.”2State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 19.02 – Murder That language forecloses the argument that any mixing automatically breaks the chain of causation. Prosecutors still need medical examiner testimony establishing that the fentanyl reached a lethal concentration and contributed to the death.
A related federal question is instructive. In Burrage v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court held that under federal drug death statutes, the government must prove the defendant’s drug was at least a but-for cause of death. Texas courts applying Section 19.02(b)(4) will face similar questions about what level of contribution is enough when a victim had multiple substances on board.
Delivery Charges That Can Be Added
A fentanyl death case does not have to rest on the murder charge alone. Delivery of a Penalty Group 1-B substance is itself a felony under Health and Safety Code Section 481.1123, and the penalty rises with the aggregate weight of the mixture, including cutting agents:
- Less than 1 gram: third-degree felony
- 1 gram to less than 4 grams: second-degree felony
- 4 grams to less than 200 grams: first-degree felony, 10 to 99 years or life, fine up to $20,000
- 200 grams to less than 400 grams: first-degree felony, 15 to 99 years or life, fine up to $200,000
- 400 grams or more: first-degree felony, 20 to 99 years or life, fine up to $500,000
These weight thresholds are small by design. A lethal dose of fentanyl can be as little as two milligrams, so a fraction of a gram represents dozens of potentially fatal doses. Because the law counts adulterants and dilutants in the aggregate weight, a dealer who cuts pure fentanyl into a larger batch of filler is charged on the total weight of the mixture, and a few hundred pressed pills can clear the 4-gram threshold for enhanced first-degree penalties.
When a death occurs, nothing stops prosecutors from indicting on both the Section 19.02 murder charge and the Section 481.1123 delivery charge arising from the same transaction. That stacking creates leverage at trial and in plea negotiations.
Death Certificates and the Paper Trail
HB 6 added subsection (e-1) to Health and Safety Code Section 193.005. A death certificate must list either “Fentanyl Poisoning” or “Fentanyl Toxicity” when two conditions are both met: a toxicology examination shows a Penalty Group 1-B substance at a concentration considered lethal under generally accepted scientific standards, and the autopsy results are consistent with an opioid overdose as the cause of death.6State of Texas. Texas Health and Safety Code 193.005 A positive toxicology screen alone is not enough if the autopsy points elsewhere.
The law does not require toxicology testing in every suspected drug death. The death certificate rule only kicks in when toxicology has already been performed and shows lethal fentanyl concentrations.1Texas Legislature Online. Texas Code – HB 6 – 88(R) Whether a medical examiner orders a full screen depends on local policy and the circumstances of the death.
For families, the designation on the death certificate matters beyond public health statistics. Many accidental death and life insurance policies contain drug-exclusion clauses, and the specific wording on the certificate becomes a key piece of evidence when an insurer reviews a claim.
Calling 911 During an Overdose
If you are present during a suspected overdose, Texas has a Good Samaritan defense under the Jessica Sosa Act (HB 1694, passed in 2021). It provides a defense to prosecution for simple drug possession when someone calls emergency services to report an overdose. The defense does not cover delivery, manufacturing, or the fentanyl murder charge created by HB 6. Someone who supplied the drugs that caused the death can still be charged under Section 19.02(b)(4) even if they were the person who called for help.