Houston,TX : Fatal DWI crash in NW Houston leads to murder charge for man on DWI probation on June, Sunday 25th 2017

An apparently intoxicated man who was on DWI probation was charged with murder Monday after he got into a fatal crash the previous day with two children in his vehicle, according to deputies and court documents.
Jiuliano F. Balderas was driving a Chevy Tahoe with two child passengers about 11 p.m. Sunday in the 9500 block of West Little York, just northwest of Houston's city limits in the Jersey Village area.
Crash investigators with the Harris County Sheriff's Office say Balderas crossed the center dividing line and struck the front of a GMC truck.
The other driver, identified as Raul Perez, was badly injured. He died shortly after the crash.
The sheriff's office says deputies arrested Balderas because he showed signs of intoxication.
He was charged Monday with first-degree murder, according to court documents. He may be charged under the statute known as "felony murder," which does not require intent to kill.
"If in the course of committing a felony, if a person commits an act that is dangerous to human life and it causes a death, then they can be charged with murder," Sandra Guerra Thompson, director of the University of Houston Law Center's Criminal Justice Institute, told the Chronicle last year.
"We see similar situations when someone starts a fire and it's a case of arson and a firefighter dies," she added. "In all of these situations we have individuals who most likely do not intend to kill. ... But no, it's not unusual to see them charged as murder and to see convictions in those cases."
Thompson said felony murder originated in England but has long since been banned there. Now, she said, "it's a very American thing."
READ MORE: 'Felony murder' charge allows heavy penalties after seemingly minor crimes
Court records show Balderas was out on probation after pleading guilty to driving while intoxicated on Jan. 16, 2016. Though it was his first DWI conviction, his blood-alcohol concentration then registered higher than 0.15; the legal limit for driving is 0.08. In lieu of a year in jail, he was sentenced to a year of probation that was scheduled to end Oct. 5.
Sunday's crash happened less than 2 miles from the home address listed for Balderas in court records.
As of Tuesday morning, he remains in the Harris County Jail on $100,000 bail. If convicted, Balderas faces up to life in prison.


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Fatal DWI crash in NW Houston leads to murder charge for man on DWI probation