Murder LEGAL in Texas until 1974?

[cynic]

Originally posted by Robb
**
A concept similar to sudden passion has existed in Texas law for some time, I believe. The possibility is that our dear psychologist somehow misunderstood this concept in Texas law and made an unsupported, blanket statement.**

Dr. Buss is not the only one making this claim. A Google search also turned up these:

chap1.pdf

**The literature cites either formal laws (until recently) or informal acceptance of men who kill their wives if provoked in certain ways; for example, adultery by a wife has long been such an example, particularly if caught in the act (Daly & Wilson 1988a; Scutt 1990; Greene 1989). In fact, until 1974 Texas law stated that such an act of homicide was justified and not subject to any penalty.

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http://www.roxanneconlinlaw.com/womenandlaw.html

**Texas and Utah had laws until 1971 that basically said it was permissible for a man to shoot his wife’s lover if he caught them in an adulterous act. It was called passion shooting. The reverse of this was called homicide.

TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. art. 1220 (Vernon’s 1966), repealed by implication by TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. §§9.31-.33 (Vernon’s 1974), which set out defenses against charges of homicide.

**

http://www.undelete.org/woa/woa01-05.html

**And until 1972, under Article 1220 of the Texas Penal Code, a man could murder his wife and her lover if he found them ‘in a compromising position’ and get away with it as ‘justifiable homicide.’

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http://www.reporternews.com/1999/opinion/ivins0311.html

**We continue to bump along with legal disparities (women were not allowed to serve on juries until 1954; they thought it might upset us), the most notorious of which was Article 1220 of the state penal code. That article made it legal for a husband who found his wife and her lover in flagrante delicto, as we say in Muleshoe, to dispatch one or both of them to kindome come without any legal consequence.

**