Does your physical condition have bearing?

[boomerang]

By "verbal threat," I mean something like, "Give me your car keys or I'll kill you." There's a line drawn by PC §9.31, which says,

(b) The use of force against another is not justified:
(1) in response to verbal provocation alone;...

IANAL but I thought that basically said you're not justified punching someone in the nose for calling you names.

Similarly, if the cops have your attacker in custody and he screams that he'll kill you, you're not allowed to shoot him preemptively.

On the other hand, if someone says, "Give me your car keys or I'll kill you," and they have a weapon or there's disparity of force, and they're close enough to be an immediate threat, that's a different story.

[seamusTX]

... if someone says, "Give me your car keys or I'll kill you," and they have a weapon or there's disparity of force, and they're close enough to be an immediate threat, that's a different story.

That's how I see it.

I don't know of this kind of case occurring in Texas. There was an Armed Citizen episode in New York City where a woman who was in a wheelchair and had a license to carry shot a thief who stole a necklace off her neck, and she got a get-out-of-jail-free card.

- Jim

[srothstein]

Steve - If you can remember the case citation please post it. I would love to read the decision.

When i get back to the office next week, I will try to dig it out. It was on a newsletter we get for police training.