Thursday, September 29, 2011

Texas Penal Code...why I moved from NY to Texas

Been following the Wall St. protests for about a week now.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meT8CJgEBQw&feature=share   If this kind of police brutality ever happens in Texas, here is something to keep in mind - but good luck proving it in court (make sure to capture it on video):

Texas Penal Code 9.31 - Self Defense. Subsection C: The use of force to resist an arrest or search is justified: (1) if, before the actor offers any resistance, the peace officer (or person acting at his direction) uses or attempts to use greater force than necessary to make the arrest or search; and (2) when and to the degree the actor reasonably believes the force is immediately necessary to protect himself against the peace officer's (or other person's) use or attempted use of greater force than necessary. Subsection D: The use of deadly force is not justified under this subchapter except as provided in section 9.32.

Texas Penal Code 9.32 - Deadly Force In Defense Of Person. (a) A person is justified in using deadly force against another: (1) if he would be justified in using force against the other under Section 9.31; (2) when and to the degree he reasonably believes the deadly force is immediately necessary; (A) to protect himself against the other's use or attempted use of unlawful deadly force...













In other news...the mother of all hornworms, a tiny polinator, and Brian and Claudia - some really nice visitors at TFL this afternoon.  74,100,62,0,B

11 comments:

Rita B. said...

"EVER happen in Texas?" chuckle. Rain in Houston this evening. Very grateful. Hope some is coming toward you, Benita & co.

K1MGY said...

I sure do like your portrayal of Texas. Seems like a place where a responsible person can actually live out their life in peace.

2 Dogs said...

Section 241 of Title 18 is the civil rights conspiracy statute. Section 241 makes it unlawful for two or more persons to agree together to injure, threaten, or intimidate a person in any state, territory or district in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him/her by the Constitution or the laws of the Unites States, (or because of his/her having exercised the same). Unlike most conspiracy statutes, Section 241 does not require that one of the conspirators commit an overt act prior to the conspiracy becoming a crime.

The offense is punishable by a range of imprisonment up to a life term or the death penalty, depending upon the circumstances of the crime, and the resulting injury, if any.

TITLE 18, U.S.C., SECTION 241

If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same;...

They shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, they shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.

2 Dogs said...

"Citizens may resist unlawful arrest to the point of taking an arresting officer's life if necessary." Plummer v. State, 136 Ind. 306. This premise was upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case: John Bad Elk v. U.S., 177 U.S. 529. The Court stated: "Where the officer is killed in the course of the disorder which naturally accompanies an attempted arrest that is resisted, the law looks with very different eyes upon the transaction, when the officer had the right to make the arrest, from what it does if the officer had no right. What may be murder in the first case might be nothing more than manslaughter in the other, or the facts might show that no offense had been committed."

"An arrest made with a defective warrant, or one issued without affidavit, or one that fails to allege a crime is within jurisdiction, and one who is being arrested, may resist arrest and break away. lf the arresting officer is killed by one who is so resisting, the killing will be no more than an involuntary manslaughter." Housh v. People, 75 111. 491; reaffirmed and quoted in State v. Leach, 7 Conn. 452; State v. Gleason, 32 Kan. 245; Ballard v. State, 43 Ohio 349; State v Rousseau, 241 P. 2d 447; State v. Spaulding, 34 Minn. 3621.

"When a person, being without fault, is in a place where he has a right to be, is violently assaulted, he may, without retreating, repel by force, and if, in the reasonable exercise of his right of self defense, his assailant is killed, he is justified." Runyan v. State, 57 Ind. 80; Miller v. State, 74 Ind. 1.

"These principles apply as well to an officer attempting to make an arrest, who abuses his authority and transcends the bounds thereof by the use of unnecessary force and violence, as they do to a private individual who unlawfully uses such force and violence." Jones v. State, 26 Tex. App. I; Beaverts v. State, 4 Tex. App. 1 75; Skidmore v. State, 43 Tex. 93, 903.

"An illegal arrest is an assault and battery. The person so attempted to be restrained of his liberty has the same right to use force in defending himself as he would in repelling any other assault and battery." (State v. Robinson, 145 ME. 77, 72 ATL. 260).

"Each person has the right to resist an unlawful arrest. In such a case, the person attempting the arrest stands in the position of a wrongdoer and may be resisted by the use of force, as in self- defense." (State v. Mobley, 240 N.C. 476, 83 S.E. 2d 100).

"One may come to the aid of another being unlawfully arrested, just as he may where one is being assaulted, molested, raped or kidnapped. Thus it is not an offense to liberate one from the unlawful custody of an officer, even though he may have submitted to such custody, without resistance." (Adams v. State, 121 Ga. 16, 48 S.E. 910).

"Story affirmed the right of self-defense by persons held illegally. In his own writings, he had admitted that 'a situation could arise in which the checks-and-balances principle ceased to work and the various branches of government concurred in a gross usurpation.' There would be no usual remedy by changing the law or passing an amendment to the Constitution, should the oppressed party be a minority. Story concluded, 'If there be any remedy at all ... it is a remedy never provided for by human institutions.' That was the 'ultimate right of all human beings in extreme cases to resist oppression, and to apply force against ruinous injustice.'" (From Mutiny on the Amistad by Howard Jones, Oxford University Press, 1987, an account of the reading of the decision in the case by Justice Joseph Story of the Supreme Court.

As for grounds for arrest: "The carrying of arms in a quiet, peaceable, and orderly manner, concealed on or about the person, is not a breach of the peace. Nor does such an act of itself, lead to a breach of the peace." (Wharton's Criminal and Civil Procedure, 12th Ed., Vol.2: Judy v. Lashley, 5 W. Va. 628, 41 S.E. 197)

austinmodhouse said...

a lot of those police are thugs/criminals

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRAyZKWEe10

Anonymous said...
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rj said...

Texas clears police who kill and use a documented throw down gun. Feds had to charge a violation of the dead guys civil rights.

Allen Hare said...

All this police thuggishness is scary. I know it happens. I was a victim of it once. They're people just like anyone else, and sometimes let their emotions rule their actions. The things they do are not always "by the book".

Nice pics today:

That is one awesome green creature.

Pollinators are SO important to our well being.

Your visitors look like a nice couple, and are clearly enjoying "The Field Lab Experience". Looks like some promising cloud cover behind them in the picture.

bayrider said...

Those police thugs are the lethal arm of the same government that forcibly takes money from one set of citizens and hands it out to another set for questionable purposes.

But I would have to say from my experience that NYPD is typically far more restrained than Texas' police forces. I really doubt if they let the statutes get in their way of imposing their will on you.

Carlos said...

The bigger the city, the worse and more organized the 'police' become at evading personal liability for their actions. Texas cops aren't any worse or better than NYC cops. The difference is that Texas cops tend to be a little more polite because Texas citizens of every stripe tend to well-armed as opposed to the unarmed subjects of NYC.

Nikki said...

Good day! Beautiful set of photos, John. I can always count on you to make me smile. I've been following Occupy Wall Street since its inception. JP Morgan Chase recently "donated" 4.6 million to NYPD. How timely. My grandfather was an NYPD officer/motorcycle cop for many years. I'm certain he is turning over in his grave at what these "officers" are doing to the protestors.