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Today on the Walton and Johnson morning show, some guy called and said he had a thief regularly entering his garage in the early morning hours stealing his stuff. He also stated that other neighbors were victims of the same burglar. He stated that he wanted to set up an "ambush" for the perp and catch him in the act. The radio bunch said that this was "premeditation" and would amount to murder if he killed the perp and that only if he was "surprised" by the perp's entry could he defend his property under Texas law. Another caller stated that if he saw the perp on a surveilance setup he could then legally "stop" the perp.

I believe that they are wrong, but would like to know for sure. Since it would be difficult in some jurisdictions to have LEA set up a trap for the perp, why would it be against the law to try to catch the perp on your property and legally defend your posesssions? I see no difference in catching someone "by surprise" or knowing someone will eventually burglarize your property and wait for the perp and take action that is legal.

Sounds like he just needs to secure his garage better. Must be wide open if the thief keeps coming back.

Anygun,
How could it be proved that you were not taking a stroll through your property? I would think that you have a right to sleep, eat or whatever you want to do in your garage (depending on the mood of my wife, I do spend a great deal of time out there 8) ) I don't see where it is any diffferent than a mouse trap! If they are not where they don't belong, there is nothing to worry about! Walton and Johnson are something else...ya never know who is going to call into that show. They used to make my long commute much easier.

I don't know what state law they were talking about, but it wasn't Texas. Without getting into limitations on the use of deadly force to protect property, or the use of deadly force at all for that matter, the simple fact that you were guarding your property at night when the burglar returned would not subject you to any greater exposure to prosecution or civil suit.

Of course, one could let one's mouth cause a problem , but merely protecting your property by being there is not a problem.

Regards,
Chas.

Thanks for the replies. Personally, I make a nightly round locking everything up, even in safe League City. I have motion detector security lights on the outside in my back yard, driveway, even in the garage. Sometimes when I wake up or the missus wakes me up when the lights go on, I do check things out. So far, only the flora and fauna or wayward cats have set them off.

I do know that when the almost inevitable happens, all you will hear me say is "I respectfully refuse to answer any questions or make any statements until my attorney is present and I have been afforded the opportunity to meet with him in private".

Charles nailed it...

To me, guarding or watching your property is not laying an "ambush" for someone else who makes a poor decision to trespass, or have some other malicious intent in mind...

If your there, and you catch them...Well...You should already know what parameters you can operate within...

Not a big struggle for me to know where I stand on this...

But this is just my dos centavos worth of blah blah blah...

My CHL instructor covered "guarding" your property & the short of what he said is guarding it as armed as you want to be is perfectly legal. After you catch him all force laws are in effect. Non in excess of what is necessary to protect life & property. The only thing you cannot do is set a booby trap to catch him. ie. a trip wire to a shotgun. That was the example he used. Charles agrees in his post. Come on instructors give us your $.03 cents. It is worth more than mine.

A trap generally speaking is a device that could hurt or kill and once set you don't have any control over it, whoever or whatever trip's it is in danger, like electricity hooked to the door knob or a trip wire and grenade, a trap or rather a device that dosen't hurt anyone like bell's, whistles,siren's, light's, or horns are OK.

A person is justified in using force or deadly to protect property as described in SubCh. D. PC 9.41 ( use of force to protect property ) and PC 9.42 ( deadly force to protect property ) which includes imminent commission of arson,burglary,robbery,aggravated robbery, theft during the nighttime or criminal mischief during the nighttime.

Tomcat