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Three suspected burglars shot dead inside Texas home
ReutersDecember 23, 2019, 2:19 PM EST

(Reuters) - Three suspected burglars were shot dead inside a Texas home on Monday when a man who lived there fired a shotgun at the invaders and was wounded himself in a brief gun battle, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said.
The wounded survivor was undergoing surgery and unlikely to face criminal charges as he had the legal right to defend his home, Gonzalez told reporters at the scene in Channelview, about 20 miles (30 km) east of Houston.
"The law allows residents inside their own homes to defend themselves," said Gonzalez, adding that the matter would nonetheless be referred to the grand jury for an inquest.
"The one with the shotgun was able to shoot at the three males and they were all pronounced dead here at the scene," Gonzalez said.
The violence broke out shortly after 8 a.m. local time when three men dressed in dark clothing entered a mobile home where two other men lived. The suspects backed their car toward the home and left the engine running as if they planned a fast getaway, but their exact intent was unknown, Gonzalez said.
There may be a fourth suspect who fled the scene, he said.
One of the two men who lived in the home escaped while the other grabbed a shotgun, Gonzalez said.
The resident with the shotgun was believed to have been shot by a handgun during the gun battle. No other gun was immediately recovered but it may have been concealed beneath one of the bodies, he said.
"It appears they were committing some type of home invasion or burglary," Gonzalez said. "Crime doesn't pay. Eventually you are going to end up dead or in jail."
 
Ironic twist: Pretty sure that if there's a 4th involved, he could be subject to the death penalty in Texas. Death during the commission of a felony. Do we have any Texas LEOs in here or someone with or familiar with Texas law on this?
I'm no lawyer, but from what I found there are two laws that apply:
1. Texas's felony murder rule, codified in Texas Penal Code § 19.02(b)(3),[1] states that a person commits murder if he "commits or attempts to commit a felony, other than manslaughter, and in the course of and in furtherance of the commission or attempt, or in immediate flight from the commission or attempt, he commits or attempts to commit an act clearly dangerous to human life that causes the death of an individual."

2.
The Texas law of parties[1] states that a person can be criminally responsible for the actions of another in certain circumstances, including "f, in the attempt to carry out a conspiracy to commit one felony, another felony is committed by one of the conspirators, all conspirators are guilty of the felony actually committed, though having no intent to commit it, if the offense was committed in furtherance of the unlawful purpose and was one that should have been anticipated as a result of the carrying out of the conspiracy."

In Texas capital cases, a person may be convicted under the law of parties, but may not be sentenced to death if convicted under the law of parties unless the sentencing jury finds beyond a reasonable doubt that "the defendant actually caused the death of the deceased or did not actually cause the death of the deceased but intended to kill the deceased or another or anticipated that a human life would be taken."
 
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