TexasCHLforum.com

What happens to your vehicle? Does it get towed and used for evidence? Do you get cuffed and taken to the station to be questioned or are you questioned and released on the spot? I've heard your handgun gets confiscated for investigation purposes but what else gets taken? Contents of your pockets? If so when do you get your handgun/contents back? Just wondering what to expect in case the lord forbid I am confronted with such a situation.

Assumptions: Events occur away from home.

Defensive shootings by legally armed citizens away from home are so rare that there is no rule. Most defensive shootings occur at home or in businesses.

If it looks like a clean shoot and the police are confident that they can find you later, they may let you go. If not, you would probably be arrested. If the initial charge is aggravated assault or manslaughter, the bond would be pretty stiff.

I started a thread about what happens when you're arrested several years ago:
http://www.texasshooting.com/TexasCHL_F ... =15&t=4953" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Jim

Aggie_engr wrote:What happens to your vehicle? Does it get towed and used for evidence? Do you get cuffed and taken to the station to be questioned or are you questioned and released on the spot? I've heard your handgun gets confiscated for investigation purposes but what else gets taken? Contents of your pockets? If so when do you get your handgun/contents back? Just wondering what to expect in case the lord forbid I am confronted with such a situation.

Assumptions: Events occur away from home.

Anything that can shed light on how the incident in question occurred can and probably will be seized as evidence. This will virtually always include the gun, ammunition, and shell casings, and may include such things as articles of clothing that bear bodily fluids, gunpowder stippling, or other changes brought about during the incident, or that were included in a witness' description of events.

Irrelevant items that did not come into play during the action (e.g., pocket change, wallet, or keys that stayed in the pocket, etc. generally have no evidentiary value and will not be seized. However, if the same items were somehow used during the incident (e.g., pocket change flung into the assailant's face as a distration) it would most likely be taken.

Seized items are generally returned when the legal process is done with them if the owner is not convicted of a crime. If a citizen is involved in a justifiable shooting and the grand jury no bills the case, a lawfully possessed gun would generally be returned at that point unless it has relevance to a case being prosecuted against the assailant if he survived.

The following is MY OPINION as a former LEO and a person who has had to advise and support someone involved in a self defense fatality case. I am not an attorney and you should consult an attorney for advice.

At the very least, you can expect to be taken into custody for the purpose of having your hands swabbed for powder residue and an initial attempt at interview/interrogation.

If it's a fairly cut and dried self-defense case, you'd probably be released immediately after an interview (in which you should say nothing beyond answering identification questions, name, DOB, etc, otherwise simply state that you will answer no other questions without your attorney present. SILENCE IS GOLDEN, you'll get plenty of opportunity to state your self-defense claims via your attorney later). DO NOT succumb to the temptation to tell your version of the events to law enforcement officers and investigators. Yes, they are the good guys, and this tactic makes their job more difficult, but Miranda warnings and the fifth amendment are in place to protect innocent people (regardless of the unfortunate side effect that the bad guys get to take advantage of them, too) and innocent people should take advantage of those rights.

The investigator's job is to collect every shred of information and evidence and forward it to the prosecutors. They will take everything you say in your own defense with a grain of salt, because 99% of the people they talk to lie to them. From sheer common sense and experience, they will tend to assume you are lying unless proven otherwise, and they are typically correct in their assumptions, so don't hold it against them.

Your vehicle would get towed for evidence processing if it was involved in the incident (used as cover, entered during the event for weapon/ammo retrieval, shots fired from within or in close proximity to, etc). Anything related to the event will be taken into evidence by a good investigator, possibly even all your clothing. You might end up waiting in a prisoner jumpsuit for a family member or friend to bring you some street clothes before you can leave the station even if you are not 'under arrest' or charged because of this.

Return of any of your property taken into evidence would happen after trial, after a grand jury no-bill, or after the prosecutor assigned to the case determines he will not pursue it. You typically need to have your attorney call and check on release status every other week or so after you are notified of final case disposition, because some departments aren't going to make a huge effort to contact you to come get your stuff...unless they are really running short of space in the property/evidence vault.

Thanks for the very helpful info. I just wanted to a heads up on approximate occurence of events following a self defense situation.

Btw, how does the whole bond deal work? For example how is the amount determined and what has to be done? Do you actually pay that amount or what happens?

First, I have to say that I tend to agree with TFrazier and advise you to say nothing> BUT, if you do take this side, the odds are very good that you will go to jail until things do get sorted out. Telling your side may help avoid an immediate trip to jail but may also make it harder for your attorney if they file on you later. Talk to your attorney NOW and find out how he wants you to handle it.

As for the bond, it is completely up to the magistrate when you are first arrested. He can order it as a PR (personal recognizance, which means released on a signature) or he can set it for the amount he chooses. It will be reviewed later, and your lawyer can ask a district court judge to review it and lower it. Many people forget that the actual purpose of bond is just to see that you will show up in court, and not to punish or protect anyone. Thus they get upset and try to demand very high bonds for shootings and some judges will do it.

After the judge sets the bond, you will be taken to the jail for processing. Each county will have their own procedures but they all tend to be close. They will fully in-process you into the system before giving you a chance to post bond. Major counties usually have people on all night for bond while rural counties may wait until the morning. The jail may find you eligible for a PR bond or may make you actually post bond.

If you have to post the bond, you can post it yourself or get a bondsman or lawyer to post it for you. If you post it yourself, you need to post the full amount, either in cash or by producing something like a house title that has enough value on it to meet the amount. You get the bond back when you appear in court for the trial.

If you use someone else to post it, they have to post the full amount. Most bond companies charge you a fee equal to between 10 and 25 percent of the amount. This is effectively interest on the loan of the amount posted and you do not get it back. The bondsman gets his bond back if you show up. Bondsman actually do not post the amount individually but get approved for a set amount of money in advance. They can then post bonds until they total that much money.

Got it. Thanks Steve, good info as usual!