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jrosto wrote:Did the Senate Committee change the wording like the House committee did?

Yes. My new Senator, Kirk Watson, added a very good ammendment to the Committee Substitute which would eliminate the 'presumption of reasonableness' if a person were in a place he did not have a right to be or if he were engaged in criminal activity (other than Class C traffic violations) at the time of the incident, or if he provoked the initial assault.

The purpose of this change was to address the concerns that a real 'Bad Guy' might offer the presumption as a means to defend against prosecution. As an example, a dope dealer selling out of his car who gets hijacked or a thug in a bar with a firearm (a felony) who shoots another thug in the bar. A DWI/DUID violator could not use this defense.

They still would start with the presumption of innocence (properly so) but they could not use the presumptions of this bill, as its purpose is to protect truly law abiding folks who were met with a forcible threat through no fault of their own.

I was impressed with Sen. Watson's grasp of the situation and his well-thought-out ammendment. He is a former Mayor of Austin, and he gave me a very pleasant suprise.

I have not yet been able to find the exact wording of the Committee Substitutes of either bill at this point.

After everyone else had spoken on and on and on (often saying very little) the committee decided to limit testimony to 5 Minutes. Unfortunately, Charles was the only remaining person to testify!

I was watching a video archive from the meeting as I couldn't make it in person. You should all try to watch it. Charles really packed a lot of good facts into five minutes.

Thank goodness, his and other testimony and a good bill caused it to be referred to the full senate with a favorable recommendation.

I really look forward to reading his comments when he gets home and has has a chance to rest up from what was, no doubt, a long day.

PERSONAL NOTE:

As a side note, I want to thank everyone for the gracious comments and encouragement in the last couple of days. These are my first comments on this forum and I am very appreciative of your hospitality.

I promise not to be so long winded in the future.

Thanks again.