Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Time for "Castle Doctrine" Law in Wisconsin

Owen kicks off the discussion.

In Wisconsin today, the above result may happen to you. While there isn’t a statutory duty to retreat in Wisconsin, a jury considers one’s opportunity to retreat when considering whether force was necessary to prevent someone from getting hurt. In the above fictional scenario, Wisconsin’s law would see you as attacking an unarmed man with deadly force whose only crime at that point was trespassing. After all, you could have just locked your bedroom door and waited for the police to show up. Furthermore, the family of the intruder could sue you for wrongfully causing the intruder’s death.

It's not hard to imagine that "castle-doctrine" implementation could have untoward results.  However, the logic is compelling.  If someone doesn't belong in your home, the law will put them on notice that they are damn fools AND endangering themselves by being where they shouldn't.

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