By: Deuell S.B. No. 1416
(In the Senate - Filed March 7, 2013; March 18, 2013, read
first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
April 25, 2013, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 5,
Nays 0; April 25, 2013, sent to printer.)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the determination of whether a use of force against
another is justified.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsection (b), Section 9.31, Penal Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(b) The use of force against another is not justified:
(1) in response to verbal provocation alone;
(2) to resist an arrest or search that the actor knows
is being made by a peace officer, or by a person acting in a peace
officer's presence and at his direction, even though the arrest or
search is unlawful, unless the resistance is justified under
Subsection (c);
(3) if the actor consented to the exact force used or
attempted by the other;
(4) if the actor provoked the other's use or attempted
use of unlawful force, unless:
(A) the actor abandons the encounter, or clearly
communicates to the other his intent to do so reasonably believing
he cannot safely abandon the encounter; and
(B) the other nevertheless continues or attempts
to use unlawful force against the actor; or
(5) if the actor sought an explanation from or
discussion with the other person concerning the actor's differences
with the other person while the actor was:
(A) carrying a weapon in violation of Section
46.02; [or]
(B) possessing or transporting a weapon in
violation of Section 46.05; or
(C) possessing a firearm in violation of Section
46.04.
SECTION 2. 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 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.
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