Justifiable homicide - 3 times deadly force is legal in California

as a criminal defense lawyer I get a lot of questions about justifiable homicide this is a legal doctrine that says it's permissible to kill somebody intentionally kill somebody in certain circumstances this is often used as a defense to murder or manslaughter charges in other words the prosecutor charges you with murder you come back and say yes I killed the person but my actions were justified so I should be exonerated but when exactly is homicide justified only in very limited circumstances under California law it would be justified really in just three situations one self-defense - defense against home invasion and three citizens arrest or keeping the peace I'm going to discuss all three of these starting with self defense killing somebody in self defense or the defense of others can be justified but only if it was reasonably necessary because you were in an immediate danger of being seriously hurt or killed and you used only the force necessary to stop the attack in other words the force you use must be proportionate to the danger for example if somebody is about to punch you and you pull out a 45 and shoot the person in the head that's probably not justified in fact we've seen a lot of cases in the news recently where people have been prosecuted for homicide and exactly that situation on the other hand if the person is charging at you with the machete screaming that he's going to kill you then pulling out a gun and shooting the perpetrator probably would be justified the second type of justifiable homicide has to do with home invasion the law says that it can be justified to kill an intruder who has invaded your home in order to commit a violent or atrocious crime this means that you cannot kill somebody who merely trusts passes on to your or even a burglar who enters your home merely to steal something but if somebody invades your home intending to harm you or your family physically then a defensive killing is more likely to be justified keep in mind that California law does follow the castle doctrine which gives a person special rights to defend his home against an intruder but it's not an open license to kill anybody who unlawfully enters your home it applies only if you reasonably believe that the intruder is there to do serious physical harm the third type of justifiable homicide has to do with citizen's arrest and keeping the peace in Penal Code 837 California law allows you to use force to affect a citizen's arrest but deadly force is only justified in very limited circumstances only a situation where the perpetrator has actually committed a violent felony and is posing a continuing danger to others an example would be a terrorist who is driving around in a van deliberately running over people if you were to use deadly force to take that person out you would probably be in a position to argue that you acted in lawful defence of others to neutralize a dangerous felon a word of common sense don't be a vigilante if you're aware of someone who committed a crime and poses a danger to the public it's almost always better to call the police and let them handle it taking the law into your own hands it is almost always a bad idea especially when it comes to the use of deadly force the upshot is this people have the right to use force to protect themselves to protect their homes and sometimes to protect the public at large and sometimes even deadly force is justified but you should always try to avoid using force especially deadly force unless it's absolutely necessary if you are loved one has been charged with homicide or any criminal offense we invite you to contact us 24-hours a day here at the Shouse Law Group you

Channel: Shouse Law Group Channel

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Keywords: battery, rules, attorney, murder, criminal defense lawyer, Right Of Self-defense, Lawyer (Occupation), assault, california, Stand-your-ground Law, California (US State), attempted murder, los angeles, County, arrested, charged, jail, prison, sentence, fine, amount, judge, court, crime, police, criminal law, misdemeanor, felony, criminal record, Shouse Law Group, Penal Code 195 - 199 PC, justifiable homicide, manslaughter, castle doctrine, citizen's arrest, home invasion, penal code 837

Id: D-kb8JC7JzA

Length: 4min 40sec (280 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 19 2019