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If a criminal breaks into your home and you hold him at gunpoint until the police arrive, are you in violation of the law?

If you're attacked on the street and you hold a criminal at gunpoint until the police arrive, are you in trouble?

Thanks

The bad guy is. But you are when the BG files a civil suit.

Purplehood wrote:The bad guy is. But you are when the BG files a civil suit.

Are we legally better off shooting him then?

The answer to this question is not simple.

Penal code 20.01 defines unlawful restraint. This law contains one exception that is relevant to this discussion: You can restrain someone in the course of making a lawful arrest.

Code of Criminal Procedure 14.01 permits any person to arrest for a felony committed within view. Robbery and burglary of a habitation are always felonies, so you are justified in arresting someone who commits those crimes in your presence.

PC 9.03 says that confinement is justified when the use of force is justified. The use of force is justified to prevent robbery or burglary. However, these are defenses to prosecution, and you are always on thin ice when you rely on them.

Then we have tactical questions. In my opinon (and this is only an opinion), you are almost always better off is a criminal actor flees. It is risky even for a trained, experienced LEO to hold a prisoner without backup. The prisoner may have a concealed weapon and be waiting for you to be distracted before using it. He may impulsively attack you, and the chances of surviving that unscathed are not great.

If the criminal flees, he could come back armed or with accomplices, or both; but that rarely happens in straightforward robbery or burglary.

All of this is IMHO, IANAL, etc.

P.S.: I have only one thing to say about lawsuits: If you are afraid that a criminal is going to sue you if you defend yourself in this state, you need to live in a castle surrounded by a moat full of alligators and never come out.

- Jim

Liberty wrote:

Purplehood wrote:The bad guy is. But you are when the BG files a civil suit.

Are we legally better off shooting him then?

I would have to charge a retainer in order to give you that answer, and, go to Law School.

It is inconceivable to me that a judge wouldn't throw such a suit out of court. You're in your home, minding your own business, and a burglar enters? He's darn lucky if he doesn't get shot - and if it's at night, you're well within your rights to shoot first and ask questions later. If I hold an intruder at gunpoint until the police arrive, and it is my home, I expect the police to say "job well done, we'll take it from here," and never hear about it again until I appear as a witness at the BG's trial. If not, I'll make mincemeat in the local press out of the judge, the prosecutor, and the perp.

I'm not havin' it.

The Annoyed Man wrote:It is inconceivable to me that a judge wouldn't throw such a suit out of court. You're in your home, minding your own business, and a burglar enters? He's darn lucky if he doesn't get shot - and if it's at night, you're well within your rights to shoot first and ask questions later. If I hold an intruder at gunpoint until the police arrive, and it is my home, I expect the police to say "job well done, we'll take it from here," and never hear about it again until I appear as a witness at the BG's trial. If not, I'll make mincemeat in the local press out of the judge, the prosecutor, and the perp.

I'm not havin' it.

.....

If a BG breaks into my house, he's a threat - and I don't have an obligation to heighten the danger to myself by attempting to take him into custody with no 'cuffs, no training in restraining criminals, and no backup.

Both times I've attempted to hold a BG (one time 3 guys, one time 2 guys) while I called 911, they've had the same attitude. They know I probably wouldn't really shoot them (in both cases they were in one of my homes under construction and I came up on them) so they simply got in their vehicle and left. Each time, I got the license plate and vehicle description. Both times the plates didn't match the vehicle. The officer told me that thieves often steal the front plates off vehicles in mall/Walmart parking lots and use those. Some people don't notice and most people don't report it. They plates don't come up as a stolen vehicle so they work pretty well for the thief. That explains why they weren't concerned that I got their plates.

at least hold them long enough to snap a picture or two, and maybe be sure they leave some prints on something that can be properly dusted. We most all have digital cameras at home, and the majority of cell phones have pretty decent digital cameras now.

Might be good evidence to pass along if you're gonna insist they leave the premises.


surv

Do not restrain anyone. After he/she is disarmed then go to low ready then loudly and with authority ask him/her "Do not move! Stay where you are! I have called the cops, stay where you are!" Do not point the gun at him/her and don't say a word about shooting them if they move. Call 911 and keep the call going until a LEO gets there. If they go for a weapon then do what you must. Otherwise, bluff like you never bluffed before. If they leave let them go and make sure you know what they look like, are wearing and what color and make of car they left in. Just my opinion.

Thinking about this situation some more has me coming to a scary conclusion. Quite frankly it would scare the ever living crud out of me if I awoke to someone being in my house. I am not sure I would say anything before shooting. I hate to admit it, but I would be so shook up by someone breaking into my house I would probably just blast them and look around to make sure they had no accomplices. I guess none of us can be sure how we would react until the situation arises, but the whole concept is very hard to imagine.

shootthesheet wrote:Do not restrain anyone.

Restraint has a broad definition in Texas law:

PC 20.01(1) "Restrain" means to restrict a person's movements without consent, so as to interfere substantially with the person's liberty, by moving the person from one place to another or by confining the person. Restraint is "without consent" if it is accomplished by:
(A) force, intimidation, or deception; or...

Telling someone not to move, with an implied threat of using a weapon, is restraint. It is lawful in this case.

03Lightningrocks wrote:Quite frankly it would scare the ever living crud out of me if I awoke to someone being in my house.

If someone can get into your house without your advance knowledge, you really need to rethink your security measures.

- Jim

seamusTX wrote:

If someone can get into your house without your advance knowledge, you really need to rethink your security measures.

- Jim[/quote]
what's this??? Some kind of sideways insult???? The question was posed at the beginning of the thread but you want to wise off about it now? What ever dude.