🚀 go-pugleaf

On Wed, 26 May 1999 16:17:46 -0700, Eric Williams
<wd6cmu@earthlink.net> was kind enough to write:

>Thomas Nord wrote:
>> 
>> I got this from a friend in CA.
>> ""The key to self-defense is that you have to wait until they are IN your
>> house,
>> then you HAVE to shoot to kill, if they survive, shoot again, they will sue
>> you if
>> they can still breathe.
>> 
>> As long as they are inside, they were trespassing and you are not at fault
>> for shooting, just make sure that they are inside, otherwise you are at
>> fault!
>> 
>> That is California law, as verified by a few of my friends in the local
>> PD.""
>> 
>> Right?
>> The same all over?
>> Revenge of relatives?
>
>No, that is not right.
>
>In California, the law reads that, if some stranger forces their way
>into your home, the law will presume that they intended to cause you
>death or great bodily injury.  A reasonable belief that you are
>threatened with death or great bodily injury is justification for using
>deadly force.

Eric is correct but I'd like to add one small clarification:  It
doesn't have to be inside your dwelling.  An Imperial Beach man was
acquitted yesterday of manslaughter charges for fatally shooting two
party crashers who were threatening him.  The incident occurred in his
back yard.  The defendant successfully argued that he had good reason
to feel threatened by the two men, one of whom had loudly proclaimed
his membership in a white supremecist "skinhead" gang.

Thomas, if you're interested you should be able to find the story
somewhere in http://www.uniontribune.com.  Registration is required.

>Note, however, that you are only granted a PRESUMPTION of
>justification.  This means you do not have to PROVE you were justified. 
>If, on the other hand, the state can prove that you did NOT have a
>reasonable belief of such a threat, you can and will be prosecuted for
>the shooting.  For instance, if it can be shown that you chased the
>criminal and shot him in the back as he tried to escape, you are going
>to go to prison.
>
>The law is not written as a license to kill all treaspassers, but as a
>way to try and prevent people who defend themselves in their own homes
>from being victimized twice -- once by the criminal, and again by the
>government.

As in most states in the US, we Californians do not have a "duty to
retreat"; we do not have to exhaust every possible means of escaping
harm before using deadly force when attacked on our property.  I
believe the standard in the UK is that you must be absolutely cornered
before you can lawfully kill an assailant.

David R. Voth
San Diego, California
USA