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Originally Posted by TexasJustice7
I think it makes a great deal of difference in Texas whether the garage is part of the house or not, or a separate building. As far as it being murder, murder is the taking of innocent life, taking the life of an intruder who has broken into your house, is not murder in Texas nor should it be.
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Texas law allows you to use deadly force when there is a reasonable belief of an immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury. If the person who was shot entered your home forcibly and unlawfully, it will be presumed that you had such a belief, however, presumptions are rebuttable if there is evidence to the contrary.
If you are holding someone at gunpoint, and they say something you don't like, and you shoot them for it, that is murder/manslaughter. There was no immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury. It may be hard to prove; but in that set of facts it is still murder/manslaughter despite the fact that the intruder broke into your home.
And scrubcedar, what I believe Frank Ettin and others are trying to avoid is incidents like this one:
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=492497
People repeat things without a solid understanding of the underlying law (like for example saying you can shoot someone for being on your property without your approval) and you get squirrelly incidents like this one when someone else reads that and believes it to be true.