Texas-Book-Gun Law Armed And Educated - Flipbook - Page 221
reasonable belief, this means a jury will have their work cut out for
them in determining whether a person is justified or not.
1. Step one: justified under Section 9.41 to use force
First, the jury will be responsible for determining whether the person
(now a defendant) involved in the use of deadly force was justified
in using mere force under Texas Penal Code Section 9.41. Because
justification under Section 9.41 requires a reasonable belief in the
immediate necessity of the use of force, the jury’s first task is to
establish whether the use of force would have even been justified.
That is, was there an interference with property or a trespass in
the first place? If not, a person will not be legally justified in using
deadly force; the analysis stops and no legal justification exists
under Section 9.42.
2. Step two: prevent crimes or stop those fleeing with property
Second, the jury must decide whether a defendant had a reasonable
belief that deadly force was immediately necessary to prevent
the imminent commission of arson, burglary, robbery, aggravated
robbery, theft during the nighttime, or criminal mischief during
the nighttime, or if deadly force was used to prevent a person who
was fleeing immediately after the commission of burglary, robbery,
aggravated robbery, or theft during the nighttime from escaping with
property. The jury must decide whether the person had a reasonable
belief that deadly force was immediately necessary to prevent the
other from escaping with property.
210 | CHAPTER TEN
