Charles,Charles L. Cotton wrote: ↑Fri Aug 17, 2018 12:09 pm This thread is very close to violating Rule 4, but 1) since it is stated as a hypothetical; and 2) it offers an excellent learning opportunity, it will stay open. That said, folks responding need to be sure their post(s) don't advocate violating Texas law.
If a location is off-limits per TPC §46.03 or §46.035, but only if 30.06 notice is given, then walking past the sign creates to criminal violations. It is a violation of TPC §30.06 (Class C) and a violation of the relevant provision in §46.035 (Class A).
Remember also that there is no retreat duty before using deadly force, if you are legally present at the location where deadly force is used. If you violate TPC §30.06 (or TPC §30.07), then you are trespassing and you are not legally present when you use deadly force. This MAY mean you have a duty to retreat before using force. (I wrote "may" for a reason, but I'm not going into that on the Forum.)
Please remember, we reduced the penalty for passing a §30.06 sign to deal with situations where law-abiding people unknowingly enter an off-limits area because they missed a sign due to it's posting location, entered with a crowd, were distracted while entering, etc. It was not reduced to encourage the most law-abiding of Texans to make the conscious decision to violate TPC §30.06.
Chas.
Isn't part of the justification clause for justified manslaughter (self-defense) that you were allowed to be in the area you were in (specifically allowed to be there WITH your licensed handgun)? And if so, would that not entirely negate the justification for deadly force under the law, making any application of deadly force fall under manslaughter or murder (or an attempt at one of these)? I suppose the imminent threat doctrine would keep it to a low level charge for one of these, but I can absolutely see a prosecutor successfully sticking someone with a manslaughter charge for using a handgun without legal justification.