I think that’s the same wording of Arizona’s Stand your Ground/Castle Doctrine law.
I’ll have to double check (and probably should) but I seem to recall that the law, like the Ohio one, assumes that anyone that is attempting to, or has broken into, your home is doing so with the intent to cause death or great bodily harm.
As the lawyer says, “check your local listings”!
Keep in mind that in a lot of cases the law creates an “affirmative defense” meaning you can be charged then claim the “defense” if they push it to trial!
When it comes to protecting yourself in your home, force is legal if someone reasonably believes it’s necessary to prevent someone from entering their home illegally or attacking the home. Under Illinois law, deadly force is legal only if “entry is made in a violent, riotous or tumultuous manner” and a person can reasonably surmise that they or someone else in the home is about to be attacked or that a felony is about to be committed.
This doesn’t sound like either a stand your ground or castle doctrine case to me. The ex boyfriend was obviously intent on assaulting them or worse. Unless they were in a duty to retreat jurisdiction they should have had the right to defend themselves regardless of stand your ground or castle doctrine laws.
I likely would have retreated to a secure location away from the front door both to give a few more moments for police to arrive and to make sure I had a clear funnel point and more distance. But they may not have thought of or had that option.
I agree with the “choke point”, However, that lock on the door is there for his protection, that gun in my hand is for my protection, if moron continues to challenge that locked door, I’m always up fora challenge!
My house, my castle, my rules, no retreat, no surrender, EVER!
I’ve read that the funnel/ choke point could be regarded as a lure and may not be viewed as we view it! The father protected his family, legally, end of story!
My funnel/choke point is in my safe area where I will be standing between an attacker and my family. They have to break through an outer door or window and an inner door to get there all while I’m telling them forcefully that the police are on the way and they need to get out our I will defend myself.
I’m not after a challenge. I need to maximize the odds in my favor to ensure my family stays safe and unharmed.
Totally agree, unfortunately, once the front door or any door to my home is breached, I have no alternative. I don’t have the luxury of a steel bedroom door or a safe room or even a decent choke point. Have considered turning bedroom into a safe room! Cost is out of reach! Not to mention average response time for law enforcement is 2 - 4 minutes. Once my home is breached, even in my “safe room/bedroom” I’ll have just under 2 seconds to identify and aim! Truthfully, if the front door is “broken into” the identity is clear. It ain’t the grandkids! Day or night, if they are breaking in, they mean to do harm!
I can think of a great many situations, on video, completely finished in the legal/justice system, in which shooting someone in the back was 100% justified morally, legally, and practically.
And a great many where it was not.
It all just depends
My safe area is definitely not armored in any way unfortunately. But it does require anyone entering it to make a sharp turn to come down a short narrow hall towards me while my family can hunker down outside of the line of fire.
We have no police force and the county sheriff’s office is a long way away. We are on our own unless the neighbors respond. Which isn’t outside the realm of possibility. Though it is more likely they would only take on any obvious criminals outside our home.
My front door is not a great defensive position. I either have to stand off to the side with limited reaction time to someone breaking in and no sight line on other entry points, or stand further away where I am in full view from windows in multiple directions if the person at the door has any friends. Hence the tactical withdrawal strategy.
Maybe you can place some sturdy furniture near the door to either use as cover or as an obstacle slid in the way to buy an extra second or two?
I have likely seen a few of those same videos myself. Cases where the criminal was still a threat even though their back was turned. Or situations where the person defending themselves decided they needed to shoot while the criminal was facing them and still an obvious threat but the criminal turned their back just before getting hit.
I’m pretty sure we can’t take back the signal to our finger to pull the trigger once it has been sent. And even if we could it still takes time to see and realize that someone who was just threatening to do seriously harm is turning and then properly determine they are no longer a threat and not just repositioning to further their attack.
It does make things harder on the lawyer though, especially if you are unfortunate enough to live in an anti self defense area with a jury pool of people who don’t know much about firearms and have no clue about the concept of reaction times and dynamic decision making.
Sounds like, no matter how we look at it, with your law enforcement far off and my lack of defensive positions we both have a challenge on our hands.
Speaking of furniture, is a 200 pound granite coffee table bulletproof? It’s the most solid item in my home along with the two end tables 1 1/2” thick solid stone! Would make a great barricade if I could move it myself!
Yeah! My furniture would suffice as barricades at windows and doors only for a short time, don’t know how I’ll win, just know I won’t lose!