TexasCHLforum.com

jimlongley wrote:
Back in the '60s there was a crime where someone shot a BG outside their house and was subsequently arrested, and a cop made the statement that if they had dragged the dead body inside the house so that it appeared that the shooting occurred inside, the shooter could have saved themselves a lot of trouble. Over the years this became a rather popular urban legend, as if a good forensic team couldn't tell where the shooting took place.

When I was young, there was a case in my home town where an old lady stepped out in her yard with a side by side shotgun. A guy came at her and she killed him. She was never charged and everyone agreed that he presented a threat.

That is what is nice about the internet is we can discuss this stuff somewhat intelligently and get a better idea of the law and reality.

There have been cases in Houston where someone shot through the door and was not charged. In both cases, I believe it was a drunk guy who was yelling and threatening the homeowner such that there was a clear threat. One was the son of a neighbor. At least one other was a drunk guy who lived nearby. I think there was another case up in North Texas where a guy went to trial for shooting someone through his back door. Not sure what the outcome was.

I would say it was not a good idea. Yes, there might be cases where you have a defined threat to your life and think you won't have time to act once the door comes down. Grand Juries have been understanding of that in the recent past.

If someone is yelling they are going to kill you and are busy putting an ax through your door, you can probably articulate that threat pretty well. Still it would be better to throw chairs and other obsticles in the way and wait for them to come through and present a better target.