If the place is signed, then you do not have the right to be present at the location where the deadly force is used. You are trespassing. So your fate is in the hands of the jury. If they decide your trespass is offset by your actions, they may acquit you. If they don't, you could be put away for a long time.denwego wrote:I've thought about that because of the penal code's section on justifying deadly force and the presumption it was reasonable:jb2012 wrote:I have always been curious how things would wind up should a person ignore 30.06 and be required to use lethal force. Is the lethal force then considered murder regardless, because the person shouldn't have had the gun to begin with? Will the lethal force be justified but person given a ticket for ignoring 30.06? Or will all be dropped because of justified self defense. I'm sure it is different from city to city, county to county, and state to state, just curious what everyone's opinion is!
§9.32c - (c) A person who has a right to be present at the location where the deadly force is used, who has not provoked the person against whom the deadly force is used, and who is not engaged in criminal activity at the time the deadly force is used is not required to retreat before using deadly force as described by this section.
Now, if you were carrying past a 30.06 sign and therefore trespassing, no jury is gonna care about that if some terrorist came in with a machine gun and tried to Paris up the place, but otherwise it could be a problem - if you're engaged in any criminal activity, even something as trifling as a Class C Misdemeanor, a prosecutor could make the argument that you had the duty to retreat before using deadly force. It has always struck me as a tougher argument to make that "I couldn't run away in the circumstances" versus "he was trying to commit a violent felony against me"... less patent proof in the first situation, often.
You may or may not think this is reasonable. I'm just quoting the law and pointing out that by walking past the sign, you have indeed broken the law and lost your grounds for self defense.