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charlie, I'm 62, not that much younger than you. At our age, we have to think of ourselves as targets, because that's the reality. Our age and infirmities attract scumbags who figure we are easy marks. So, we have to learn to stay in yellow all the time and stay armed all the time. It's not easy for me, because I've never had a situation like yours occur to me. The places I frequent and the things I do routinely are in "safe" environments. So, I find myself vacillating between carrying and not carrying (I don't have my license yet), but I know in my heart that I need to carry all the time and I need to practice regularly. I'm getting the practice part down, because I find that enjoyable, but I still feel silly carrying a weapon in my home.

It's unfortunate that this is what our world has come to, but at least we have our rights somewhat intact so that we can carry a weapon to defend ourselves and our loved ones.

BTW, I think hoi polloi's analysis was spot on. The only issue I can see is where you would have felt comfortable drawing and firing. If you've never drawn and fired your gun while lying on your back, you might be hesitant to draw from that position, and that could have been fatal. You can practice that from home with an unloaded weapon. And now that you've gotten your wakeup call (and thank God you weren't severely injured or killed!), you have the motivation to work at it.

dubya wrote:I am not sure I remember the consensus on deadly force for this type of attack. This is probably good to go since it is behind Charlie's house. But, it was day time. And, what if it was a different location. I don't know if we can answer this question in this same thread without drifting but do we believe deadly force would be justified here?

I don't think there's any question that, when the BG "backed [him] into the alcove", he would have been justified in using deadly force. First, it was already aggravated robbery, because the BG used deadly force to begin with. Once the BG started backing him into the alcove, the necessary elements of the law had been met to justify the use of deadly force again.

§ 9.32. DEADLY FORCE IN DEFENSE OF PERSON. (a) A person
is justified in using deadly force against another:
(1) if he would be justified in using force against the
other under Section 9.31;
(2) if a reasonable person in the actor's situation
would not have retreated; and
(3) when and to the degree he reasonably believes the
deadly force is immediately necessary:
(A) to protect himself against the other's use or
attempted use of unlawful deadly force; or
(B) to prevent the other's imminent commission of
aggravated kidnapping, murder, sexual assault, aggravated sexual
assault, robbery, or aggravated robbery.