During Sunday’s show (July 1), we mentioned an article by the Houston Chronicle discussing an apparent increase in the number of justified homicides in Texas. That article can be found here (http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Killings-deemed-justified-are-on-the-rise-in-Texas-3676412.php).
As is typical of the media, they sensationalize the facts and the “expert” opinions they cite are themselves, biased to the left. Here’s the real deal, in plain English. The Texas Legislature did not and never has intended to give anyone carte blanche to kill at will. The only person in Texas at any given time who has the “right” to kill another person is an executioner acting on a signed death warrant from the court. Everyone else had better be prepared to have their actions reviewed. If you read the law, it consistently requires that one’s actions be “reasonable.” Believe it or not; you, as the actor in any given case, don’t get to decide what is and isn’t reasonable. What is reasonable is decided, at the very least, by a local magistrate or grand jury based on evidence reported to them by the investigating officers. If you are true billed and formally indicted, a jury of your peers will be tasked with deciding if your actions are reasonable.
As we’ve recently seen in the Raul Rodriguez case, “Stand Your Ground” is NOT an automatic get out of jail free card to shoot anyone, anywhere you see fit. It’s true, you no longer have a “duty to retreat” but, that change assumes you didn’t go looking for a conflict or otherwise end up in a situation of your own making. The intent was to clarify one’s right to defend himself if he happened to find himself being attacked away from home. For example, how does one “safely” retreat if you’re at your office or place of business rather than your home when faced with a deadly threat? Or if you’re simply out making that late evening, ice cream and pickles, run for a mother to be when you’re accosted in the parking lot? A lot of folks will say run back to the store but, running isn’t necessarily an option for an elderly person or anyone with a disability let alone those of us lacking a “successful lifestyle body” (i.e. fat boys).
