562.071. Duress.
You may not be guilty if someone forced you to commit a crime.
If someone threatens you with immediate physical harm and you had no real choice, you might have a defense called “duress.”
1. It’s a legal defense if the person committed the crime only because they were forced or threatened with unlawful, immediate physical harm to themselves or someone else—and a reasonable person couldn’t have resisted that threat.
2. Duress cannot be used as a defense:
- For the crime of murder; or
- If the person recklessly put themselves in a situation where they were likely to be threatened or forced.
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