My question involves criminal law for the state of: California....
A few months ago my brother "ryan" and his wife "heather" got devorced. They had arranged meeting times and places to pick up and drop off my 2 year old nephew "ryan jr". One day heather didnt show up so my brother contacted heathers mom. Heathers mom got a hold of heather and was told to take my brother over to heathers house to pick up my ryan jr. When my brother got there nobody was watching my ryan jr. and he was covered in his own fecal matter......A long custody trial is going on right now. The ex wife heather has had custody taken from her and was given drug tests wich came up posative for meth...she was given supervised visits wich she hasnt showed up for in 2 months.
She has another daughter who was also taken from her. Yesterday she went over to the daughters fathers family's house acompanied by 2 large men looking for her daughter. It appeared nobody was home but there was actually an 85 year old woman and a mentally disabled 21 year old boy. Heather went into the house screaming, "Wheres my daughter!" When she realised her daughter was nowhere to be found she started grabbing valubles and taking them out to her car. Mind you an 85 year old woman was sitting there horrified watching all of this.
My real question is...I babysit my nephew Ryan Jr. for my brother while hes at work. My brother has full custody. Im worried Heather will show up to my house with the 2 druggy friends that were with her when she broke into her daughters fathers family's home and burglerised it. At what point could i defend myself with a firearm. I will never let her get my 2 year old nephew and take him into her druggy lifestyle. If her and the two men broke into my home would i legally be able to shoot them to keep them from hurting my nephew and I. What if its just Heather..If she breaks into my house in a threatening manner am I allowed to defend myself and my nephew physically? Or will i be arrested for hitting a woman? Keep in mind she has given up her 2 year old son so she can go party and use drugs "meth". She isnt some nice young lady. I was raised to never harm a woman, but she is not a "Lady" she is a crazy drug addict and I know shes capable of horrible things. If she broke in and was trying to take my nephew could i physically defend my family and not get arrested?
Also im worried she will come and damage my brothers and my truck...we both have verry nice trucks. What should i do if i see her damaging one of them? She is allready going to jail she has a ton of charges against her and warrents out for her arrest....driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, Fighting a pregnant woman, hurting her mom, Leaving threatening messages on her brothers phone, and this new one of breaking in and stealing her ex husbands stuff... so if she damaged our trucks i fear she wouldnt pay for the damages even if a court told her to...since she will be in jail. Am i legally allowed to subdue her if i see her taking a bat to one of our vehicles on our property?

