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Terms Used In Texas Penal Code 9.22

  • Actor: means a person whose criminal responsibility is in issue in a criminal action. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
  • Conduct: means an act or omission and its accompanying mental state. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
  • Harm: means anything reasonably regarded as loss, disadvantage, or injury, including harm to another person in whose welfare the person affected is interested. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
  • Law: means the constitution or a statute of this state or of the United States, a written opinion of a court of record, a municipal ordinance, an order of a county commissioners court, or a rule authorized by and lawfully adopted under a statute. See Texas Penal Code 1.07

Conduct is justified if:
(1) the actor reasonably believes the conduct is immediately necessary to avoid imminent harm;
(2) the desirability and urgency of avoiding the harm clearly outweigh, according to ordinary standards of reasonableness, the harm sought to be prevented by the law proscribing the conduct; and
(3) a legislative purpose to exclude the justification claimed for the conduct does not otherwise plainly appear.