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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