If you wish, you might be generous and tell him lay down and spread them or you will shoot him. If he refuses, you can feel that he is figuring out how to hurt you, and you can SHOOT him.
Guntotin' Fool, don't fool yourself.
Find an experienced criminal attorney in your state and discuss that question with him.
Find me ONE SINGLE CASE where an honest law abiding home owner was ever charged or convicted for shooting a burglar or strong arm robbery suspect in their own home. IT DOES NOT HAPPEN. If the person is being charged, it is because of other circumstance. ... if you are joe homeowner, watching TV at midnight when someone kicks your door open and starts demanding your money and you put three center of mass, or if you come in from the deck and charlie crackhead is in your Living room boosting your TV, and you pop him, your NOT going to jail.
Indycolts, who by virtue of his profession knows what he is talking about, says he's looking for some information, but let's see if this holds your appetite:
You've mentioned two scenarios: one involves a forcible (some laws say 'tumultuous") entry while you are in your house. Pretty straightforward, I'd say. In almost all states you may shoot, but in some you may need to try retreating first. In the OP's case and in mine, you do not.
The second scenario you describe involves the resident coming in to find someone in his home and shooting him for trying to take property. I only know of "one single case" where such an incident has occurred: in Washington State,
which has a castle doctrine, a homeowner recently found a perp in his house and shot him. He has been charged with murder. Good enough for you?
You see, the homeowner was not
in the house when the guy entered. By the way, most state castle laws are written in such a manner that most people will understand that they just can't get by with that. In some states, being on the deck may qualify as occupying the domicile, but in others it will not.
And there's only one state (potentially two, actually) in which shooting simply to stop the taking of the TV would be legal, but only under limited circumstances, and you would have to show that the shooting had been necessary to prevent the removal of the property.
More than likely, the kind of guy who breaks into your home is going to have a record that has its own hard drive down at the Local PD.
Unless you happen to have known that, getting it introduced into evidence would be an interesting challenge.
More often than not, you will get a very private "attaboy" from the cops who show up. They will know his name without looking for ID, When the Cops say, "bad day to be you, Joe Bob," or "Tyrone", Or "Hector" to the body on your floor, relax, you did a good thing.
Read some of the material Pax suggested and see if you still believe that.
I get sick and tired of people thinking that if you do not follow a prescribed set of steps in exactly the right order, you are going to spend your life behind bars if you shoot.
????
It ain't a procedural question at all--forget the steps. It's simply a matter of whether you are legally justified under the circumstances and whether the evidence supports that defense.
In the event of a forcible unlawful entry while you are occupying your domicile, that defense is apt to prove a whole lot easier and less expensive than might the defense for a shooting in a parking lot with no witnesses.
...IF you are a good law abiding Citizen and your worst "crime" to date has been a speeding ticket driving home from church to catch the rest of the first half of the football game...you are not going to jail for shooting a hoodlum in your house.
Again, if the shooting was legally justified and the evidence is sufficient to prove that, that's what matters. Nothing esle.
And again, I
strongly suggest that you check out the links and read the book recommended by Pax.
