Hughes v. State
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas
719 S.W.2d 560 (1986)
John Hughes (defendant) shot and killed Rodney Johnson after Johnson, in a confrontation triggered by a chance encounter, cursed at Hughes and then, according to a witness, grabbed and threatened her with a gun; Hughes shot Johnson at that moment. Hughes was indicted for murder; under the Texas Penal Code, deadly force in self-defense (§ 9.32) requires that a reasonable person would not have retreated, and defense of a third person (§ 9.33) is justified if the defendant would be justified under § 9.32 and reasonably believes intervention is immediately necessary. The trial court instructed the jury that Hughes himself had to show a reasonable person in his own situation would not have retreated; the jury convicted him of voluntary manslaughter, but the court of appeals reversed, finding this instruction erroneous, and the state sought discretionary review.
Whether a defendant has a duty to retreat before using deadly force to protect a third person if the defendant reasonably believes that the third person would have been justified in using deadly force.