The only one I'm sure of, is if someone enters your home illegally, you have retreated as far as one should have to, because you're in your castle and you can use deadly force.
Virginia is neither castle or retreat...technically speaking.
Virginia is case law, no castle here. But existing case law which drives court decisions in the state is largely 'castle like'. Basically you can defend yourself anywhere you can legally be present, no duty (legally) to retreat based on court cases on the books and the likelihood if it goes to court. We aren't a 'retreat' state from a legal requirement or from a legal case law history standpoint.
Just know there is no official 'castle doctrine' law on the books. Our legislature rejected castle as irrelevant and unnecessary.
I'm not a defense lawyer, so take that with a grain of salt.
FinallyGlock is absolutely correct! But always remember, just because you discover a "stranger" in your living room at 0300 doesn't mean you can immediately engage with deadly force. Sudden and blinding illumination followed immediately with "STOP - SHOW ME YOUR HANDS" is an excellent start. And if the response is a sudden "furtive gesture" and you engage with deadly force, unless you are in the Southwest part of Virginian, you are likely to find yourself in a criminal legal proceeding. I just don't understand why so many on here can't accept the fact that if you employ deadly force and it was not in response to deadly force being used against you first, you will likely be arrested and into the "system". You may prevail but you will be in the criminal justice system.
I should also add, Virginia also doesn't have an official 'stand your ground' statute, but we are again a case law 'stand your ground' state.
And macjur is correct, if you find yourself in a liberal part of the state, very likely a liberal DA might decide to take issue with your decision and you could end up with a bigger fight on your hands.
I don't care where I'm at, I'm gonna retreat if at all possible. Anywhere, any state, etc. no interest in shooting if I don't have to and no interest in the aftermath of any flavor.
In that specific situation, I'd first be concerned where your kid is in relation to the intruder and your gun. Know what's behind your target and beyond.
But yea, somebody within reach of my kid, in my house at 3am, I light him up, tell him to move away from my kid, hands up, and if there isnt instant instant instant compliance and I've got a clean shot, yea, I'm taking it.
I know someone, who shot and killed someone over an infidelity dispute in 1988. He did time, and that still follows him to this day. I really don't want my life like that.
My record is so clean, I don't have so much as a traffic violation. I have VA seller ID which allows me to do background checks when selling guns. So yeah, I don't want to tarnish my spotless past. But again, my son is a different matter entirely.
But to your point, I have to surmise that an infidelity dispute is a different animal. It could be self defense, but that's just bad bad mojo from a legal standpoint if you ask me. Best if you walk in on the wife and another dude (or not another dude) to just reverse path and head to a movie or a hotel bar and call it a night. Deal with it in court.
Overkill338.....to your geography question, the good folks in Southwest Virginia generally elect very conservative Republicans as their Commonwealth Attorney (what they call District Attorneys in Virginia) while those citizens in the Northern part of the state generally elect liberal Democrats as their Commonwealth Attorney. Guess which one is going to be more sympathetic to the exercise of self defense? Many who populate this site need to take the Law of Self Defense course from Mas Ayoob. The local prosecutor has nearly complete discretion in charging someone with a crime and convening a grand jury.
And on a personal note Overkill, I would advise changing your screen name and being very careful what you submit here. If you were ever involved in a self defense incident and the DA decided to charge you, you can be confident the prosecutor will get his or her hands on this site and discover your screen name and postings and they will be admissible at your trial. Just a word to the wise.......and everyone out there!
Overkill338.....to your geography question, the good folks in Southwest Virginia generally elect very conservative Republicans as their Commonwealth Attorney (what they call District Attorneys in Virginia) while those citizens in the Northern part of the state generally elect liberal Democrats as their Commonwealth Attorney. Guess which one is going to be more sympathetic to the exercise of self defense? Many who populate this site need to take the Law of Self Defense course from Mas Ayoob. The local prosecutor has nearly complete discretion in charging someone with a crime and convening a grand jury.
And on a personal note Overkill, I would advise changing your screen name and being very careful what you submit here. If you were ever involved in a self defense incident and the DA decided to charge you, you can be confident the prosecutor will get his or her hands on this site and discover your screen name and postings and they will be admissible at your trial. Just a word to the wise.......and everyone out there!
I just got this screen name and had it merged with my account from years ago.
My screen name is nothing more than where my friends were picking on me for hunting whitetail deer with a 338 Win Mag. I adopted it as a Playstation account name and then just had Austin change it here a few days ago.
If you live in Virginia and you own a gun for self-defense, knowing the law is even more important than knowing how to shoot. It would behoove you to learn it.
I posted in GATE and asked Mas about this. Austin said he'd change it back for me if need be.
And to the one that suggested I would shoot in the dark, I've never shot at unidentified targets hunting and I damn well wouldn't in my house. I know my house layout and I would never shoot with my sons room behind the target, and I would much rather the person give up and wait for the police. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I DO NOT WANT TO HAVE TO SHOOT ANYONE FOR ANY REASON. I don't like the idea of having that on my conscience. But defense of one's child is one of our most primal instincts. Go poke a grizzly cub with a stick in front of its mama.
Don't you know the Internet is the be all-end all source of 100% Gospel knowledge truth!
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