AUSTIN, Texas — Texas lawmakers are considering a bill to raise the minimum sentencing for intoxication manslaughter for suspects who are in the U.S. illegally.
The House Committee on Corrections took up House Bill 2017, also known as “Grayson’s Law,” on Wednesday morning.
The bill is named in honor of 29-year-old Grayson Davis of Smithville. He died when police say a drunk driver going the wrong way hit his car head-on. The alleged drunk driver was in the country illegally.
“Grayson’s life was cut short by an illegal immigrant who was driving drunk – someone who had no right to be here and who had been deported twice and previously arrested for a DUI in Kansas before this senseless act,” State Rep. Stan Gerdes, the author of HB 2017, said at the time of Davis’ death. “This should not have happened, and we cannot allow tragedies like this to continue.
HB 2017 would establish a 10-year minimum sentence with no parole for intoxication manslaughter if the crime was committed by someone in the U.S. illegally. A friend of the Davis family testified at the hearing Wednesday, saying she believes “Grayson’s Law” would help bring justice to Davis and other victims.
“Grayson wasn’t just a person. He was a brother, a cousin, an uncle, a son and, in so many ways, an amazing friend. His family wasn’t just grieving the loss of an individual – they were grieving the loss of a part of themselves,” Avery Chapman said. “But the worst part is knowing that this could have been prevented. His death was the result of someone else’s reckless actions, of a person who should have never been here or been behind the wheel that night.”
Opponents of the bill say it creates a problematic, two-tier sentencing guideline for the offense of intoxication manslaughter based on immigration status.
The bill was left pending in committee.