A Texas mother has shot and killed a man who broke into her home while her three children were home and asleep.
Police have confirmed she won’t be facing any charges.
The incident occurred at the women’s residence on Kashmuir Place in San Antonio just after 10 pm on Thursday (April 28), according to News 4 San Antonio.
Police say the burglar attempted to break into the house through the laundry room and was trying to get through the main door into the home.
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The mother heard the man attempting to enter and grabbed a weapon. She unloaded two rounds into the man's chest.
The man was identified as 41-year-old Roman Rodriguez, who was found sitting outside on a chair in the backyard, bloodied from his gunshot wounds.
The mother will not face charges from police under the castle doctrine law, which gives a resident the right to use force against someone who might be unlawfully breaking into your home, vehicle or workplace.
Only a minority of states allow individuals the right to use reasonable force to regain their land.
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Texas is the only state in the United States which justifies using deadly force under the castle doctrine law.
Rodriguez was put into an ambulance when he was found by the police, however, he died on his way to hospital as a result of the gunshot wounds.
No one else suffered any injuries as a result of the incident.
One of the most famous cases to use the castle doctrine law as a means of escaping a charge came in Pasadena, Texas when a man named Joe Horn fatally shot two burglars.
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Horn had spotted the two intruders breaking into his neighbour’s house, and called emergency services, who told him not to intervene.
However, he decided to shoot the two burglars in the back despite the instructions of the 911 dispatcher.
Luckily for Horn, under Castle Doctrine he escaped without any indictment.
In Australia, there is no such thing as castle doctrine law, however, under criminal law, Australians can claim self-defence if they caused harm to an offender breaking into their home.
If a defendant was to claim such a reason then the court would have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that they didn’t act under self-defence in order to prove them guilty.
Topics: Crime
Jayden Collins