Coercion & Intimidation Defense

"Legal Lexicon":
DEFENSE, COERCION AND INTIMIDATION - Defense that although the person may have committed the acts charged in the indictment, he did not do so voluntarily but only because of force or coercion in the form of intimidation and threats of bodily harm to himself or his family.
In order to excuse an act that would otherwise be criminal, however, the intimidation or coercion must be present and immediate, and must be of such a nature that it induces a reasonable and well-founded fear of death or serious bodily injury to one's self or someone else; and there must be no reasonable opportunity to escape the coercion without participating in the crime.