Running Into The Law

“Marriage: A friendship recognized by the police.”~ Robert Louis Stevenson

If life just doesn’t get interesting from time to time, I think the population would just slide off and die from boredom.

This evening I was returning home from shopping across the street.

As I entered through the nearest gate, I noticed that some man was walking around like he was pacing. But his behavior was very erratic and nervous.

Then he ran the opposite way away from me and I just didn’t put too much thought into it, other than I had seen with my own two eyes where he was and which apartment he came from.

He popped out the woman’s apartment that I have recently written about in previous blog posts who was given an eviction notice and still hasn’t left yet.

But knowing that, I just didn’t care. I mean I would make sure that I avoided that side of the property for the rest of the evening but couldn’t do much more.

Then as I am almost home, I am met up by two police officers with their sidearms drawn and aimed at me, requesting that I stop.

I complied.

They were looking for an armed gunman, that very same person that I saw walking around on the other side of the property.

After a bit of searching and a pat down, they realized that I was not the person that they were looking for. I did send them in the direction of where I saw the nervously-jogging man and then I was escorted home with their weapons out in front of them as we turned every corner until I had gone inside of my home and locked the door behind me as per their request.

Some scary stuff right there! Considering that I had no idea what was going on or anything. Having a weapon pointing in your face really wakes you up.

But they got who they were looking for. The police officers stopped by and knocked on my door to tell me so. Why? I will never know. They got him though.

Good grief. Some kinds of excitement are just no fun!

And people wonder why I want to move?!?!?

Justifiable Homicide

 

I was recently asked about this subject for whatever reason. I haven’t heard much of this topic with other people nor have I heard of any stories in the news about justifiable homicide. But here is what I could find out about it what it is and how it is defined.

A non-criminal homicide, usually committed in self-defense or in defense of another, may be called in some cases in the United States. A homicide may be considered justified if it is done to prevent a very serious crime, such as rape, armed robbery, manslaughter or murder.

The assailant’s intent to commit a serious crime must be clear at the time. A homicide performed out of vengeance, or retribution for action in the past, would largely not be considered justifiable.

In many states, given a case of self-defense, the defendant is expected to obey a duty to retreat if it is possible to do so. In the states of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, Washington, Wyoming and other Castle Doctrine states, there is no duty to retreat in certain situations (depending on the state, this may apply to one’s home, business, or vehicle, or to any public place where a person is lawfully present). Preemptive self-defense, cases in which one kills another on suspicion that the victim might eventually become dangerous, is considered criminal, no matter how likely it is that one was right.

Justifiable homicide is a legal gray area, and there is no clear legal standard for a homicide to be considered justifiable. The circumstances under which homicide is justified are usually considered to be that the defendant had no alternative method of self-defense or defense of another than to kill the attacker.

For the person requesting such information:

The Texas Penal Code in Section 9, Justification Excluding Criminal Responsibility, addresses the use of force to protect a third person.

That part of the code states, in part, that “a person is justified in using deadly force against another to prevent the imminent commission of aggravated kidnapping, murder, sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, robbery or aggravated robbery.” Basically, it allows a third person to use deadly force when aiding someone else, such as a small child or an elderly person who does not have the physical strength to either get away from their attacker or stand and fight on their own. There was a case not too long ago where a man was killed by a third person during a sexual assault of a child. No charges were brought to the person who killed that child’s attacker.

But in review and in smaller terms, many states don’t just allow anyone to cause death to anyone and then claim self-defense. It just doesn’t work that way.  There is a duty to retreat which means if you can get away from an attacker, then you must attempt to do so before taking the law into your own hands and ending the life of that attacker.

However, you do not have the duty to retreat in certain circumstances if you are where you belong. Such as your home, private property, etc.