Texas-Book-Gun Law Armed And Educated - Flipbook - Page 193
changes in statutory law to decide when a person has “provoked”
another person under Sections 9.31 and 9.32. The legal doctrine of
provocation is best summed up in a 1914 case:
A man may not take advantage of his own wrong to gain favorable
interpretation of the law. He seeks the law in vain who offends
against it… One cannot willingly and knowingly bring upon
himself the very necessity which he sets up for his own defense.
Sorrell v. State, 169 S.W. 299 (Tex. Crim. App. 1914).
What if a person who started a fight soon realizes they bit off more
than they can chew? Under the law, that person can abandon or
clearly communicate his or her desire to abandon the encounter. If,
after a person abandons or attempts to abandon the encounter, the
person who was provoked pursues and uses unlawful force against
the provocateur, the provocateur may then be legally justified to
fight back.
ABANDONMENT OF PROVOCATION MAY ALLOW JUSTIFICATION
TEX. PENAL CODE § 9.31(b)(4)(A) AND (B)
The use of force against another is not justified if the actor
provoked the other’s use or attempted use of unlawful
force, unless the actor abandons the encounter, or clearly
communicates to the other his intent to do so reasonably
believing he cannot safely abandon the encounter, and the
other nevertheless continues or attempts to use unlawful force
against the actor.
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