If someone commits a crime because another person threatened to hurt them or someone else right then and there, they may have a legal defense called duress. This means they might not be held responsible because they were forced into it. But this defense does not work for murder, and it does not work if the person got themselves into that dangerous situation by being careless.
562.071. . — 1. It is an that the engaged in the conduct charged to constitute an because he or she was to do so, by the use of, or threatened use of, physical force upon him or her or a third person, which force or threatened force a person of reasonable firmness in his situation would have been unable to resist.
2. The of "duress" as defined in 1 is not available:
(1) As to the crime of murder;
(2) As to any offense when the defendant places himself or herself in a situation in which it is probable that he or she be subjected to the force or threatened force described in subsection 1 of this section.
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Source & history notes
(L. 1977 S.B. 60, A.L. 2014 S.B. 491) Effective 1-01-17 (1984) Duress is not available as a defense to first degree felony murder. State v. Rumble (Mo. banc), 680 S.W.2d 939.
Related Missouri laws
Entrapment
RSMo 562.066
Intoxicated or drugged condition
RSMo 562.076
Liability of individual for conduct of corporation or unincorporated association
RSMo 562.061
Liability of corporations and unincorporated associations
RSMo 562.056
Lack of responsibility because of mental disease or defect
RSMo 562.086
Conviction of different degrees of offenses
RSMo 562.051
Legal information, not legal advice. Always confirm with the official source at revisor.mo.gov.