Texas-Book-Gun Law Armed And Educated - Flipbook - Page 147
must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a person possessed a
particular mental state applicable to a crime in order to meet the
state’s burden of proof and convict someone of that crime.
Often a person’s intent is easily ascertainable by the circumstances.
For example, if a person is the would-be victim of robbery, and
the person resists by pulling his or her gun and firing at the robber,
the law will likely find the victim used justifiable deadly force,
because the victim used force intended to cause death or serious
bodily injury.
However, the weapon used is not always dispositive evidence
of someone’s intent to use deadly force. Hammers, toasters,
knives, baseball bats, and almost any other object can be “capable
of causing” serious bodily injury or death under a particular
circumstance. The case legally turns, then, on how the person is
using the force.
THREATS AS JUSTIFIABLE FORCE
TEX. PENAL CODE § 9.04
The threat of force is justified when the use of force is justified
by this chapter. For purposes of this section, a threat to cause
death or serious bodily injury by the production of a weapon or
otherwise, as long as the actor’s purpose is limited to creating an
apprehension that he will use deadly force if necessary, does not
constitute the use of deadly force.
D. What are threats of force? “Stop or I will…”
Texas law provides that if you are legally justified to use force in
any particular situation, then you may also legally threaten to use
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