In California, what are the legal defenses if a California resident kills someone breaking into their home?
California Penal Code section 198.5 provides as follows:
“Any person using force intended or likely to cause death or great bodily injury within his or her residence shall be presumed to have held a reasonable fear of imminent peril of death or great bodily injury to self, family, or a member of the household when that force is used against another person, not a member of the family or household, who unlawfully and forcibly enters or has unlawfully and forcibly entered the residence and the person using the force knew or had reason to believe that an unlawful and forcible entry occurred.
“As used in this section, great bodily injury means a significant or substantial physical injury.” (Pen. Code § 198.5)
This statue is commonly referred to as the “Castle doctrine”; the name is derived from the familiar aphorism that “a person’s home is their castle.”
Under the Castle doctrine, a California resident whose home is being intruded into is legally presumed to reasonably be in fear of imminent death or great bodily injury to himself or herself, or to a member of his or her household, such that the use of deadly force is justified. This presumption attaches to a resident when there is:
- an unlawful and forcible entry into his or her residence;
- the entry is by someone who is not a member of the resident’s family or household;
- the resident knew of the unlawful and forcible entry; and
- the resident used force “intended or likely to cause death or great bodily injury.”
Because the Castle doctrine is a legal presumption, in any prosecution against a resident arising from an invasion of his or her home, the state bears the burden of proving that the resident was not reasonably in fear of imminent death or great bodily injury to himself or herself, or to a member of his or her household.
It should be noted that the Castle doctrine does not apply when the entry is by a member of the resident’s family or household, nor does it apply when the entry is not “unlawful.” Thus, the doctrine does not apply when a police officer enters a residence in the performance of his or her duties, a landlord or maintenance lawfully enters a rented dwelling, or when anyone was invited to or provoked into entering the residence.
Most significantly, the Castle doctrine does not apply outside of the resident’s home.
Of course, this does not mean that people in California don’t have a right to defend themselves outside their home when they are, in fact, reasonably in fear of imminent death or great bodily harm. It just means that in defending themselves outside their home, they cannot subsequently rely on the legal defense provided by the Castle doctrine.
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