Alleged burglar shot by homeowner with shotgun in Camp County - Property Defense or Self Defense?

Unfortunately for the homeowner, this was NOT a justified shooting in the eyes of the law. His life was not in danger when he fired his weapon; only his property. Although I definitely feel for him, as I DESPISE thug thiefs, the homeowner will most likely be looking at a felony conviction. I say this only with the information available.

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I havenā€™t spent any time in TX aside from driving through on my way to somewhere else but I thought they had a law allowing the use of force to defend property there? Wonder what the outcome of this case was?

Also the property owner shot the burglar twice with a shot gun according to the report. But the burglar was able to take the gun away and eventually get themself to a hospital. Wonder if the property owner managed to not hit any vital areas both times or if they were using birdshot?

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I do think the home owner has the right defend his property and his family.

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Welcome to the family brother @Christopher448 and you are in the right place at the right time.

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I definitely get why the home owner responded the way he did, but Iā€™m not familiar with Texas law,

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Hello and welcome @Zeb3

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Welcome to the family brother @Zeb3 and you are in the right place at the right time.

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Welcome aboard @Zeb3

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For all who have had difficulty with the interpretation of Texas law regarding protection of property, I highly recommend getting Andrew Brancaā€™s Law of Self Defense book, (free for the cost of shipping from his site). and also consider taking his online streaming video courses, Law of Self Defense and Defense of Property.

In every state we have the right to use NON-deadly force to protect property. In no state do we have the right to use deadly force to protect property in general. Texas is unusual in having a law giving us the right to use deadly force to protect property, but only in very limited, specific circumstances. (NOte below that one of the specific circumstances is ā€œin the nighttime.ā€ See Texas Penal Code Section 9.42:

A person is justified in using deadly force against another to protect land or tangible, movable property:

(1)

if he would be justified in using force against the other under Section 9.41 (Protection of Oneā€™s Own Property); and

(2)

when and to the degree he reasonably believes the deadly force is immediately necessary:

(A)

to prevent the otherā€™s imminent commission of arson, burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, theft during the nighttime, or criminal mischief during the nighttime; or

(B)

to prevent the other who is fleeing immediately after committing burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, or theft during the nighttime from escaping with the property; and

(3)

he reasonably believes that:

(A)

the land or property cannot be protected or recovered by any other means; or

(B)

the use of force other than deadly force to protect or recover the land or property would expose the actor or another to a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury.

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I donā€™t live in Texas and rarely travel through so havenā€™t looked into the property protection laws. But from section 3A it sounds like if you had insurance that covered the property you should reasonably believe that you would be able to recover the property. Unless a court decided that you were justified in attempting to not lose the property that wouldnā€™t be covered under the deductible?

Seems to be too many potential legal pitfalls in that law for me to risk my freedom just to protect some stuff when my life or the life of my family or neighbors werenā€™t on the line.

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Thatā€™s crazy here in Baltimore there steadily trying to take guns away from law abiding citizens and you pretty much have to be back in a corner and pretty much in the middle of being murdered to use a firearm on someone you pretty much have to try to deescalate then get away from the situation if you canā€™t get away from the situation then you have to hide you pretty much have to prove after you use firearm force that there was no other way to go about it thatā€™s why I started wearing a really expensive Amazon body cam Everywhere I Go because even if itā€™s outside and I have to do self-defense to protect me and my daughter especially in a bad neighborhood nobody is going to testify on your behalf I also have cameras all around my truck the inside and facing the outside on both sides thatā€™s terrible but if I ever have to protect me and my daughter Iā€™m going to make sure that I have everything on film so that cannot be doubted and another thing if someone breaks in your house and less theyā€™re a direct threat to you if you shoot them and theyā€™re unarmed you murdered them and you go to jail itā€™s crazy and we have one of the highest murder rates in the country and theyā€™re trying to take law abiding citizens guns away and spricking the laws so bad to where we canā€™t even protect ourselves even if we have them I bet in Texas they donā€™t have all this bullshit going on with random shootouts every day with random people because you never know whoā€™s holding or carrying itā€™s just crazy

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@Joseph516 Welcome to our community, we are glad to have you. :slightly_smiling_face:
And you and your daughter are still living there??? Why???

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Iā€™ve been involved my share of homicide trials. Whether a JURY will convict or not is the result of evidence presented at trial and whether the JURY is sympathetic with the shooter. The words in a statute book are of secondary consideration. You can ruminate over whether the shooting met Texas statutory standards all you want, but in the end, a JURY will decide.

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Hello and welcome @Joseph516

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I have to stay here because my daughter has a mental disability and we finally found the school that she has really taken to and that they can help her sheā€™s been through like four or five different schools and I wouldnā€™t want to take her away from that once sheā€™s done school on definitely going to leave but then I have the Dilemma of my family owns multiple properties here that they rent out row houses single homes quite a few so if I move out I canā€™t move too far unless we sell all the properties but the prices have plummeted the value property because of the trouble making trash and the people moving away and renting their homes out to section eight and not caring who lives there or what they do so enough of my ramp but all and due time my friend Iā€™m looking at land out in Pennsylvania or Virginia somewhere not too far from Baltimore if I have to come back for something so when my daughter is done with school Iā€™ll be out of here Iā€™m just staying here for her for now there are the only people that really in my opinion are qualified to each mentally disabled or handicapped or whatever you want to call it autistic children special needs thatā€™s what it is and she doesnā€™t have much of a social life out of school she has mood swings very badly but in school she behaves and has friends and all that I donā€™t want to take that away from her right now but when her school was done that your ass Iā€™ll have a U-Haul packed and a Destination type in the GPS LOL wonā€™t be long this place is going to be a God damn circus in 10 years and I will be watching from another state

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Wow. A real ā€œrock and a hard placeā€. I wish you and her the best. :crossed_fingers:
I have had to pick up and move several times, and so far for the best.

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I appreciate that bud and good luck to you as well a hardest part is is itā€™s just me and her Iā€™ve had custody of her since she was 9 months old her mother gave her up and I havenā€™t seen her since sheā€™s a real piece of s*** so hopefully I can convince her to getting out of here is good and move not so far to where she can come back to what sheā€™s familiar with but y yeah Best of luck to you as well my friend Iā€™ll be back on the forums when I see s*** that pisses me off or bedazzles me lol have a great one

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Welcome to the family brother @Joseph516 and we are glad you are with us.

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I am from Wisconsin and the 2 things that stuck in my mind when I did my CC training were, using a gun is a last resort and invoke the fifth amendment. Most stuff can be replaced or repaired. When a life is ended it is ended. Donā€™t be foolish goes both ways.

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Welcome to the family brother @Lloyd27 and you are in the right place at the right time.

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