HOUSTON – Formally known as the Castle Doctrine, the Stand Your Ground law states that if a person is attacked in their home, they do not have to retreat before they use self-defense, according to the Texas Luster Law Firm.
SEE ALSO: ‘Stand Your Ground’ law: Here’s what you need to know
That means people should have the legal right to self-defense when in a private space and be able to protect themselves at their homes.
Reasonable is an important word in this discussion
People cannot just use force on someone if they verbally insulted you. If it is reasonable to use force in a situation that jeopardizes your safety, then force may be justified.
The Castle Doctrine can be used if:
- Someone unlawfully enters or tries to force entry into your home, car, or workplace.
- The person tries to remove you from your home, workplace, or car.
- The person was carrying out or trying to carry out aggravated kidnapping, robbery, aggravated robbery, murder, sexual assault, or aggravated sexual assault.
Questions surrounding the Stand Your Ground law have been asked regarding a shooting that took place at a Taqueria when a customer opened fire on someone who was attempting to rob the restaurant.
The entire ordeal was caught on camera and showed the second the man opened fire as the alleged robber tried to flee.
KPRC 2′s Jason Nguyen spoke to Attorney Ed McClees and asked him to explain the law a little better.
Q: What is the Stand Your Ground law in Texas?
A: “The Stand Your Ground law kicks in if you are not provoking the altercation, if you are lawfully where you are supposed to be and you are not otherwise engaged in criminal activity, there is no duty to retreat. In some states, there is a duty to retreat, but not in Texas, as long as those three things have been present. In fact, a jury is actually going to be instructed, they are not to consider whether you retreated so long as you’re lawfully there, haven’t provoked the fight and you are not otherwise engaged in criminal activity.”
Q: What is “re-treating?”
A: “Retreating (means) removing yourself from the fight. You’re allowed to stand your ground and to defend yourself. You don’t have to wait to be attacked. You don’t have to try to run away from the attack in Texas.”
Q: Does protecting others apply under the law?
A: “The same rules that apply to you will apply to a third person if you are allowed to defend yourself with either force or deadly force given the situation. You are also allowed to have to defend a third person in that situation.”
Q: Can neutralizing a threat be overdone?
A: “As an old, old-time prosecutor, former D.A. in Harris County used to say, if you’ve got a right to kill them, you’ve got a right to kill them, dead, dead, dead. If you are lawfully defending yourself, you are allowed to lawfully defend yourself until that is no longer a threat. We see that all the time with police officers. The same defense rules that apply to police officers apply to citizens.”