Texas-Book-Gun Law Armed And Educated - Flipbook - Page 175
Is the panhandler just being annoying, or is Homer about to be the
victim of a robbery or aggravated robbery? This is the ultimate issue
Homer may face if he decides to use force or even deadly force against
the alleged aggressor. How will the law evaluate a use of deadly force
under Sections 9.31 and 9.32?
This is an example with a lot of gray areas. The man never verbally
threatened Homer, nor did he ever physically touch him. All the
man said was “give me some money”; he didn’t even demand all
of Homer’s money—just some. Do robbers ever demand just some
money? If Homer is in genuine fear of an aggravated robbery, does he
have a duty to retreat? What about the fact that Homer was cornered in
an alley? If Homer takes out his legally carried handgun and fires it to
defend himself, what happens? Was Homer really about to be robbed,
or is he a paranoid trigger-happy fellow as the prosecutor may try to
portray him? Beyond that, who decides what the facts really were?
This goes to show that there are lots of questions and gray areas.
If Homer finds himself charged with unlawfully using force or deadly
force against his alleged attacker, he can assert a legal justification
based on self-defense under Sections 9.31 and 9.32 of the Texas Penal
Code. Again, the law will allow Homer to use force or deadly force
for self-defense when and to the degree he reasonably believes it is
immediately necessary to stop unlawful force against him. In this
example, before a jury will be allowed to decide if Homer acted in
self-defense, he must present some evidence at trial that he reasonably
believed he was about to be robbed.
Homer may attempt to satisfy the “some evidence” requirement by
testifying that he was in fear for his safety and had seen the panhandler
acting violently on the same street many times in the past. Homer
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