If someone breaks into my house in the middle of the night...?

Question

I realized my new neighborhood is insanely high crime. I have been sleeping with a baseball bat next to my bed, and also a Glock pistol in the nightstand.

I don't know what my rights are, I am confused with watching too many cop shows. But if someone breaks into my house in the middle of the night, do I have the right to shoot the person? What if they die?

Or what if I just decide to clobber them with a baseball bat and wait for the police to arrive. Can I get charged with battery? (No pun intended).

Answer 1

[What if they die?]

Lawyers will be knocking down their door in the middle of the night to fight for the chance to represent the perp's family in a wrongful death suit against you.

Answer 2

Get comfortable folks, this is gonna be a long answer.

First of all, look at your house. The whole and I do mean whole thing. How could an intruder get in. Doors, windows, chimmney (don't laugh, it has happened.) Plug the holes and shoar up the weak points. Your local crime prevention office should be able to help.

Next, get a good alarm system. A nice loud one. Not so much to scare anyone away or get John Law acomin, but to let you know, WARNING, WARNING, DANGER. All the weapons in the world are useless if you wake up with a knife at your throat.

The following is written with the assumption you have wife/ kids.

Then disignate a safe room. Usally the master bedroom, inexcessible enough from the outside as to be reasonably unlikely to be an entry point. If the alarm goes off for whatever reason, everybody and I do mean ever human type person in the household goes to this safe room. While this is happening hit 911. As soon as everybody is in the safe room count noses. Twice. It is not a bad idea to make sure your teenager does not have a drunken friend sleeping on the living room couch. While this is happening your spouse or resonabley responible person needs to be on the line with 911. DO NOT HANG UP. Make sure 911 knows that their is a possible home invation in progress, that all civilians are in a central location and THAT YOU ARE ARMED. WHile this is going on take a defensive position with firearm and wait. DO NOT go crook hunting yourself. That is to be left to the pro's. When the police arrive, if no entry point is found, have a house key on a glow stick ready. Throw it out a window to the police and have them enter and check the house. While you are waiting be prepared to defend your position by whatever means necassary. You may use lethal force to protect youself or a third party from death or gevious bodily harm. Last point, while waitng for the police and in some area's and times you might wait awhile, someone cleans out the living room, file an insurance claim in the morning. Do not go after them. BTW, give the bat back to your kid. If you get that close to the bad guy, you are already in trouble.

If, Lord forbid, you have to shoot, tell the 911 operator, do not touch or otherwise disturb the body. Make no statement until you have spoken to your lawyer the next day. I repeat stand on your right to remain silent.

I warned you this was going to take awhile.

Answer 3

First, I appologize for any spelling errors....my keyboard kindo has a mind of its own right now and I don't really feel like doin the whole spell check for this stuff....

Regardless of the laws in your area, deadly force is only authorized of it can reasonably be shown that you were in fear of death of serious bodily injury as a result of someone elses actions...that the same was imminent. The word immenent here is cruicial. It means right now, or unavoidable otherwise at that time.

Some states have different criteria such as "Duty to Retreat", etc. Which basically means if there was a way out and failed to exercise that option, you were wrong. Some states do not have this criteria. And in all states, deadly force is NOT authorized to protect property. ONLY life of self or others.

Now, that nonsense of you can "shoot him once" blah blah blah....wrong. If you are in a situation where you believe that your life, or the life of another in your presence is in IMMINENT DANGER, deadly force is authorized. Courts have ruled that if the first shot is justfied under deadly force rules or laws, every subsequent shot is also justified. However, you cannot fire three times, walk over, check to see if he is breathing and fire again. Once you stop shooting, stop. Unless of course there is still a threat.

My suggestion is to check the laws in your area specifically dealing with deadly force situations. Then, sicne you have a weapon, perhaps it would be agood idea to find a certified weapons trainer who offers a course or certification in poper use and maintanence of the weapon which deals with the laws regarding carrying and using it in a varety of settings and circumstances. Then, spend time at the range getting used to the weapon and becoming proficient with it.

Answer 4

If you are going to confront an invader INSIDE your home with a gun, make sure to kill them outright (any cop will tell you that), don't hesitate. However, unless your life was in immediate danger, you could be held legally liable (in most states).

Keep in mind that it isn't hard to take a knife from the kitchen drawer and place it in the hand of the attacker.

Then claim to the police that you thought the intruder was going to come at you and that you fired in self-defense.

Again, unless you plan on killing the intruder, I wouldn't bother trying to beat them up or take any other action except call 9/11. Many people have been successfully sued for taking excessive force.

Answer 5

Situations like that are evaluated on a case by case basis.

The odds are really in your favor if someone breaks into your home and you are in fear for your safety and use deadly force to defend your life or the life of a loved one. But there is no cookie cutter answer here saying you will be fine legally.

When something like that happens the incident will be thoroughly investigated, and will be presented to a grand jury; who will decide if there should be any criminal charges. That is the same process that happens when a police officer uses deadly force on someone (even on duty).

Answer 6

It's very simple....

If you fear for your life and you have no way to escape, then you can use deadly force to protect yourself.

This means... you realize someone is in your house, you can't go searching for him and shoot him. If you have a choice to get out by opening a window in your bedroom, do so.

Also, if a person is already getting out of your house with your goods, you cannot shoot him as your life is no longer in danger.

You should take a course in gun safety. Not only how to use the gun, but hey will also tell you, under what circumstances you are allowed to use deadly force.

By the way, when you shoot, you assume the person will die. What if he die is not a valid thing to be wondering. It is a deadly force.

Answer 7

Check your local regs as every state is different. Depending on the scenario you'd be well within your rights to use deadly force... just don't shoot em in the back. From what I gather you'd be better off using the lethal alternative opposed to permanent injury. Either way be prepared for legal issues from the perps family. Also, I am in no way affiliated with law enforcement, just giving my .02. I'm interested to hear what you find out. I too sleep with a Springfield XD-40 in reaching distance.

Answer 8

What ever you do don't just wound them. Kill them! If you wound them they can come back and sue you and they will win. I've heard it too many times. I used to live in Kennesaw and Ackworth Georgia and once there was a guy that caught someone who broke into his house. He shot the "perp" and called the police. When the cops gt there they saw he was breathing and told the guy that they'd be back in a little while. this was a hint that he was not to be breathing when they got back and he wasn't.

A little old lady had just waxed her kitchen floor and went to bed to let it dry over night. A "perp" broke in and slipped on the floor and broke his leg. He sued the little old lady and won.

If you're going to do anything at all, kill the SOB as long as it's in your home, it will be a justifiable homicide and it will be thrown out of court.

Answer 9

It depends upon where you live. In Florida you can blow away an intruder without fear of prosecution. The same for Georgia. Personally, I have a 1911A1 Colt .45 pistol on my nightstand. I will always opt to kill the bastard that breaks into my home and worry about the consequences later. Check with your local government for the laws concerning personal protection.

Answer 10

In the UK, you can use reasonable force to protect yourself. Meaning if someone threatens your life you can hit them across the face with a club. But you can't run after them and shoot them dead if they try to escape in the street.
Well, to be honest I'm not too sure, but I agree it's a bit tricky to be confronted by a possibly armed thief in your room in the middle of the night and say "hang on, I'll start the laptop and check out the government directives."
All the best in your new neighborhood ;-)

Answer 11

MOVE!!!! Or get a security system. It is a law in some states that suburban homes have floodlights at each corner of the house, on all night, to discourage burglary.
This is suggested by law enforcement as as alternative: plant thorny bushes the circumference of the house, close to the windows. Double or triple locks on doors. Replace hollow core doors with solid ones. Check with your local police.
Perpetrators have actually sued victims and won, although they committed crimes, endangered lives, trespassed on their property or you acted in self-defense. Intent.
Our courts system is often depraved and indifferent.