A legislator is seeking to alter the Jalisco penal code to offer greater protections to citizens who act in legitimate self defense of their persons or property.
The law currently permits legitimate self defense, but the accused cannot be released from custody until it is proven that the aggressor carried a weapon of some kind and that a life was endangered. State deputy Francisco Javier Romo Mendoza is proposing law changes that would spare victims any jail time prior to proving they acted in self defense. The proposal also seeks to exempt anyone acting in legitimate self defense of any subsequent financial responsibility to the aggressor or his/her family.
Romo’s proposal also includes a section that seeks to spare “domestic animals” who attack intruders entering properties from being sacrificed.
Romo stressed that the law change should not be interpreted as a means of justifying crimes under the “self defense” argument, or a reason for householders to go out and purchase weapons.