Bill Text: TX HB796 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to certain defenses to prosecution involving the justifiable use of force or threat of force.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 5-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-03-01 - Referred to Criminal Jurisprudence [HB796 Detail]

Download: Texas-2021-HB796-Introduced.html

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87R2720 JRR-F
By: King of Parker H.B. No. 796

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to certain defenses to prosecution involving the
justifiable use of force or threat of force.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 9.04, Penal Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 9.04. THREATS AS JUSTIFIABLE FORCE. The threat of
force is justified when the use of force is justified by this
chapter. For purposes of this section, a threat to cause death or
serious bodily injury by the exhibition [production] of a weapon or
otherwise, as long as the actor's purpose is limited to creating an
apprehension that the actor [he] will use deadly force if
necessary, does not constitute the use of deadly force.
SECTION 2. Section 9.31(a), Penal Code, is amended to read
as follows:
(a) Except as provided in Subsection (b), a person is
justified in using force against another when and to the degree the
actor reasonably believes the force is immediately necessary to
protect the actor against the other's use or attempted use of
unlawful force. The actor's belief that the force was immediately
necessary as described by this subsection is presumed to be
reasonable if the actor:
(1) knew or had reason to believe that the person
against whom the force was used:
(A) unlawfully and with force entered, or was
attempting to enter unlawfully and with force, the actor's occupied
habitation, vehicle, or place of business or employment;
(B) unlawfully and with force removed, or was
attempting to remove unlawfully and with force, the actor from the
actor's habitation, vehicle, or place of business or employment; or
(C) was committing or attempting to commit:
(i) aggravated kidnapping, murder, sexual
assault, aggravated sexual assault, robbery, or aggravated
robbery; or
(ii) arson, if the property intended to be
damaged or destroyed was an occupied building, an occupied
habitation, or an occupied vehicle;
(2) did not provoke the person against whom the force
was used; and
(3) was not otherwise engaged in criminal activity,
other than a Class C misdemeanor that is a violation of a law or
ordinance regulating traffic at the time the force was used.
SECTION 3. Section 9.32(a), Penal Code, is amended to read
as follows:
(a) A person is justified in using deadly force against
another:
(1) if the actor would be justified in using force
against the other under Section 9.31; and
(2) when and to the degree the actor reasonably
believes the deadly force is immediately necessary:
(A) to protect the actor against the other's use
or attempted use of unlawful deadly force; or
(B) to prevent the other's imminent commission
of:
(i) aggravated kidnapping, murder, sexual
assault, aggravated sexual assault, robbery, or aggravated
robbery; or
(ii) arson, if the property intended to be
damaged or destroyed was an occupied building, an occupied
habitation, or an occupied vehicle.
SECTION 4. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.
An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed,
and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For
purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the
effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred
before that date.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.