There's been a rash of burglaries in the neighborhood.

Having watched too many Clint Eastwood movies, you
set a trap. Turn off all lights, leave a window open, wait
in the dark... with a shotgun. The fly walks into the web,
and you blast him.

How does this play out?

--
Rich

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On 10/6/2021 12:10 AM, RichD wrote:

There's been a rash of burglaries in the neighborhood.

Having watched too many Clint Eastwood movies, you
set a trap. Turn off all lights, leave a window open, wait
in the dark... with a shotgun. The fly walks into the web,
and you blast him.

How does this play out?

I'm not a lawyer and I didn't even stay in a Holiday Inn last night but....here's my take on it.

Changing it slightly to "you have a laser beam across the window wired
to a mechanism that pulls the trigger" and it gets tripped when you're
out watching a movie, then you're charged with murder or attempted
murder. You can't set an automatic trap of any sort like that.

See
https://brinkshome.com/smartcenter/why-you-shouldnt-set-traps-for-burglars

In your original scenario, however, I can't really see any difference
between you sitting there in the dark waiting and you waking up due to a
noise and you grabbing your shotgun and running to that room. In fact,
how would the police even prove exactly how it happened unless you
blabbed about it? And even then, unless you did something more to entice
the burglar into the house other than leaving a window open, it's still probably seen as defense of your property (IMHO.)

Now if you posted on Facebook, Twitter, etc saying "Hey, I know of this
guy who has wads of cash and lots of diamonds just laying around in his
house and he just left on a month vacation" and giving your address and
*then* you "Turn off all lights, leave a window open, wait in the
dark... with a shotgun." then it's probably very much slipping into the
same category as the automated-trigger shotgun.

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"RichD" wrote in message news:c1aac18d-9048-4e58-80cb-db6a0fcdae9en@googlegroups.com...

There's been a rash of burglaries in the neighborhood.

Having watched too many Clint Eastwood movies, you
set a trap. Turn off all lights, leave a window open, wait
in the dark... with a shotgun. The fly walks into the web,
and you blast him.

How does this play out?

--
Rich

Well there is no law against leaving your window open and lights out at
night. That actually seems pretty normal. And there is certainly no law against having your legally acquired weapon beside you during the night, whether or not you are actually asleep. That also seems pretty reasonable.
So to me this is no different from someone breaking into your house while asleep and the same laws should apply.

--

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"Rick" <rick@nospam.com> wrote in news:sjkdh4$1a1g$1@gioia.aioe.org:

Well there is no law against leaving your window open and lights
out at night. That actually seems pretty normal. And there is
certainly no law against having your legally acquired weapon
beside you during the night, whether or not you are actually
asleep. That also seems pretty reasonable. So to me this is no
different from someone breaking into your house while asleep and
the same laws should apply.

You are not allowed to use more force than necessary under the
circumstances. So if you set a booby trap that will harm someone even
when no one is there, that is strictly illegal because there is no
person there to make the judgment that this level of force is actually necessary.

If someone comes in and you shoot at that person without knowing if
it's friend or foe, that is in the same category.

--
Stu
http://DownToEarthLawyer.com

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"Stuart O. Bronstein" wrote in message news:XnsADBB81EFB62ACspamtraplexregiacom@130.133.4.11...

"Rick" <rick@nospam.com> wrote in news:sjkdh4$1a1g$1@gioia.aioe.org:

Well there is no law against leaving your window open and lights
out at night. That actually seems pretty normal. And there is
certainly no law against having your legally acquired weapon
beside you during the night, whether or not you are actually
asleep. That also seems pretty reasonable. So to me this is no
different from someone breaking into your house while asleep and
the same laws should apply.

You are not allowed to use more force than necessary under the
circumstances. So if you set a booby trap that will harm someone even
when no one is there, that is strictly illegal because there is no
person there to make the judgment that this level of force is actually >necessary.

If someone comes in and you shoot at that person without knowing if
it's friend or foe, that is in the same category.

But if someone comes in through the open window (rather than knocking on the front door or ringing the doorbell or using a key you previously gave them
to unlock the door), I think it is a reasonable assumption that the person entering through the window is likely more foe than friend. And if you can
see a figure coming at you through the window and you know it is not a
friend and - this is the important part - you feel that your life is in immediate grave danger, I think you'd have a decent case if you shoot.

--

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