Texas also has the death penalty for premeditated murder, which would probably be the case if you're prepared enough to frame the victim for catalytic converter

Texas also has the death penalty for premeditated murder, which would probably be the case if you're prepared enough to frame the victim for catalytic converter theft. So if you're going to use an affirmative defense ("Yes I did it, but it was justified") then that seems like a pretty big risk, especially if there's no real evidence the victim was a cat thief.