Texas-Book-Gun Law Armed And Educated - Flipbook - Page 213
Fresh pursuit after property is taken
In the event a person’s property has already been stolen, a person
is only legally justified to use force to recover it immediately after
it was stolen or in “fresh pursuit.” A person is not allowed to use
force that is not immediate, or in fresh pursuit, to go and recover the
property days, weeks, or months later. What does it mean to recover
property immediately after or in fresh pursuit? Let’s consider our
example from the previous section.
EXAMPLE:
Shaun is not able to catch the thief immediately after the theft
because the man jumped into a waiting car. However, Shaun sees
the thief at the grocery store the next day. Shaun grabs the guy and
throws him to the ground while shouting, “Give me back my box!”
Shaun is no longer justified in his use of force because he is no
longer in fresh pursuit. Shaun should have called the police for
help. While it appears that the appellate courts in Texas have been
reluctant to provide a bright-line definition of what it means to be
in fresh pursuit, they have provided some guidance on what is not
considered to be fresh pursuit. For instance, one court stated that
the use of force was not immediately after or in fresh pursuit after
the dispossession of the defendant’s property when the defendant
walked down to his van, retrieved a shotgun, returned upstairs,
and then shot the complainant who had refused to return the
defendant’s revolver. See Salley v. State, No. 14-97-0656-CR, 2000
WL 552193 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2000, pet. ref’d).
In another case, a court held that a defendant who used force in an
attempt to recover a wrecker approximately one hour after it was
taken did not act immediately or in fresh pursuit. See Hall v. State,
No. 01-88-00511-CR, 1989 WL 21835 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st
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